"It Is Extremely Close To My Heart, Supreme Court To Have New Annexe Building":CJI DY Chandrachud Assures Bar On Shortage Of Spaces

"We are planning to address this severe shortage of space in the Supreme Court by putting up a new annexe building," Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud revealed while speaking at the SCBA-organised felicitation function for the 8 newly-appointed judges.

CJI said the primary emphasis in the new building being designed by PWD is to provide adequate space to the most important stakeholders of the legal institution, that is the lawyers and the litigants.

"I am conscious of the fact that the bar is in dire need of more space, therefore, I told the PWD that we have to have first and foremost, adequate facilities for the Supreme Court Bar Association, for the SCAORA. And there are the women lawyers who are members of both the associations, or at least one of them, I do believe that the women require a space of their own so we must have adequate space for the women bar Associations," CJI said.

He added that PWD has been instructed to ensure that the entirety of the building is air-conditioned and they are also exploring technological avenues to prevent exposure of lawyers to "terribly hot" corridors. "That is an area in which I am also working. I can’t promise you that we will find a technological solution but we’re working on it...there would be waiting areas for lawyers and litigants so that you don’t have to crowd in the courts and you can sit quietly outside the court waiting for your matter to reach and work on your laptop and work on your briefs whether you are on paper or otherwise”, he elaborated.

The CJI also spoke about his internal conflicts as a lawyer and as the institutional head.

"Very often, the members of the bar come and meet me, whether it is the SCBA or SCAORA- I just met the representatives of the SCAORA just last week- and when they put their demands to me, I said my problem is that I cannot say no to any of the demands of the bar because that is the lawyer within me which is constantly saying how justified these demands are. But over the last five months, there is also a chief justice in me who has the institutional perspective at heart. There is a little bit of a conflict sometimes between me as a lawyer and me as an institutional head and I try to balance out both perspectives"

CJI has also assured the Bar that the institution is working to address the need for lawyers’ Chambers. "Please be rest assured that it is extremely close to my heart. This is something that we are all working on together. When I was the chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, we set up a new bench at Lucknow which was completely moribund until I took over and we saw to a large number of chambers for lawyers. When the president of the bar association came to thank me, I said there is a little bit of self-interest in it for me also. He said, ‘Iss mein aapka kya swaarth hai? (‘What is your self-interest in this?’)’. So I said, ‘Itna swaarth hai that when lawyers are occupied, it is always safe for the institution’”, narrated the CJI.