Patna, Jan 3 (PTI) Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Saturday asserted that “empathy” in the legal system distinguished “a just society from an unjust one”, and underscored the need to “bend the arc of justice towards the communities that need it the most”.
The CJI made the remarks while addressing a convocation ceremony at the Chanakya National Law University in Patna, where he reminded young lawyers that “intensity” in pursuit of their careers must not lead to “erasure” of finer sensibilities.
“Many young lawyers believe that success requires total surrender to work, to guidelines and to expectations, and for a while, intensity is inevitable, but it must not become erasure. If the law occupies every corner of your life, you risk losing the very empathy and judgment that justice requires,” the CJI said.
This very empathy in our legal system is what distinguishes a just society from an unjust one, he observed.
“As you leave this university, remember that the law is not just for those who can afford it, but for anyone who is in dire need of it. You carry a solemn duty to use your skills for people’s benefit. As I often say, the question is not whether you have learnt the law, it is whether you are ready to reshape it, to bend it, also to bend the arc of justice towards the communities that need it the most,” the Chief Justice of India said.
“Whether you choose litigation or public service, academia, judicial service or any other path… Never lose sight of the fact that law draws its legitimacy from the people it protects. When you use your skills to give voice to the unheard, voiceless, and you also give dignity to those who have been overlooked, you will be honouring not only your own education but the constitutional promise that underpins it,” he added.
Paying rich tributes to the history of Bihar, the CJI said this land, the cradle of great thinkers of logic and jurisprudence, has long been a meeting point of ethics, reason and justice.
From the compassion of Buddha, to the moral clarity of Mahavira, from Dr Rajendra Prasad’s humble dedication to Sachchidanand Sinha’s service or Jaiprakash Narayan’s Sampoorna Kranti, Bihar has shaped ideas that speak not merely to the faith but fairness in public life, he added.
The CJI wound up his two-day visit of the Bihar capital with the address to the convocation ceremony, which was held hours after he laid the foundation stone for seven infrastructure projects on the Patna High Court premises.
The seven projects included an Alternative Disputes Redressal building, an auditorium, an IT building, an administrative building, a multi-level car parking, a hospital, a residential block for ministerial staffers of the Patna High Court, and an annexe building of the office of advocate general.
“The laying of foundation stones for the administrative block, the IT block and other facilities of the Patna High Court is very crucial. I believe this occasion assumes a deeper resonance in Bihar, which is a land that occupies a distinctive place in India’s civilisational memory,” the CJI said in his address.
He also emphasised on “capacity building” which could “lay the groundwork for a justice system that can meet the demands of a growing population, increasing litigation and disputes of rising complexity”.
“The first dimension of this effort is institutional capacity. A modern administrative block functions much like the nervous system of the court,” he added.
The CJI asserted that the IT building will mark an important transition for courts that are “paper-heavy and time-intensive” to the ones that were “data-informed, digitally enabled and user-centric”.
He said the ADR building and auditorium will serve as a “place of learning and exchange” by hosting, among other things, ADR initiatives and conversations that will “strengthen the relationship between Bar and the Bench”.
Justice Kant also highlighted the importance of a hospital facility within the court premises because “justice is delivered by human beings and not machines”.
The CJI also launched a new application, e-ACR Nyaya, which is designed to modernise the process of filing and processing the annual confidential reports online. PTI SUK NAC ACD
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.