To Ensure Judges Do Their Duty, One Must Not Merely Protect Them But Also Hold Them To Account : CJI DY Chandrachud

Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, while speaking at the Constitution Day celebration organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association on Thursday (November 30), said that the lawyers have the duty to not only protect the judges but also to hold them to account.

“We are also here for the betterment of our profession and through the betterment of our profession to serve the cause of justice and to ensure that the other side of the profession, the judges who are duty-bound to act in aid of justice, continue to do so, you have to not merely protect your judges, but you have to hold them to account as well.”

“And we have done that when we found, as young lawyers, that was a straying away from the path of justice,” CJI added.

Other dignitaries that were part of today’s session were part of today’s event were Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Attorney General for India R. Venkataramani, President and Vice-President of Supreme Court Bar Association, Dr. Adish C. Aggarwala and Sukumar Pattjoshi respectively.

During his address, CJI cited the example of Cornelia Sorabji, the first Indian woman to study at the University of Oxford. Sorabji studied law and wanted to come back to India and work on the issue of Pardanashin women.

He said: “How different is our society today from when Cornelia Sorabji entered the legal field? She was one and denied the opportunity to be one because she was denied entry into the legal profession. So, she did her LLB from Bombay University after returning from Oxford, but she could not get entry to the Bombay Bar. So, she goes to Allahabad and appears for pleaders examination there.”

Taking his cue from this instance, CJI proudly stated: “Now, looking around at the audience today, I see not just one woman, not just a sprinkling of women, but predominantly the voice of women which is now appearing in the emerging Supreme Court and its Bar association of today.”

CJI recalled that during the celebration of Constitution Day, there were judges and Chief Justices from across Africa and the global south. Thereafter, he stated that, after talking to these judges and listening to the stories emerging from the different states in Africa, “I said to myself how truly lucky are we to be a part of this nation and profession.”

“It is important that we look around in the world around us, around our immediate neighborhood, beyond our own nation, to realise how indeed lucky we are to be born as Indian citizens at this time when the constitution itself approaches the 75th year and so does the Supreme Court in a very short while from now.”

Underscoring the idea that all of us are bound together in this cycle of existence, CJI said, “What the constitution tells us is that we either survive or we perish together.”

Moving forward, he told an instance that he witnessed during yesterday’s hearing (Seemingly, he was referring to the case pertaining to the appointment of the Chief Secretary of the Delhi Government).

“We had this very fraught case that was going on where Dr. Abhishek Singhvi was on one side and the Solicitor General of India was on the other side. After they concluded their arguments….as I was dictating the judgment, I saw a very interesting site. SG got up from his seat and walked up to where Dr. Singhvi was sitting, and they were both involved in a chat to their heart’s content.”

CJI continued to say that he told this story because it gives us the essential nature of our profession. It is a profession of diversity, he said.

“The one hallmark of the SC bar is that all of us, judges or lawyers, have come from different parts of the country in search of a better livelihood for us. But in process of giving each one of us a better livelihood, we are also engaged in providing a better existence to our fellow citizens. That is the big power that all of you command as lawyers. The ability to change the lives of Indian citizens for better, the ability to ask questions, the ability to not be tied down to one dogma.”

CJI also emphasized that though we, as lawyers, may have different ideologies and preferences, we are essentially one. "And that is what our attire reminds us.”, he said.

Elaborating on this point, he stated that the similarity of our attire is the symbol of our common existence. Thereafter, CJI averred that it is important that the bar preserves this tradition.

“It is for all of you as senior members of the bar to pass on these stories and messages to younger members of the bar....because it is in these stories which we discuss with each other that we realise the essence of our existence.”

CJI also discussed our responsibility to ensure the legal profession becomes more inclusive. He explained that the same can be done by just making small changes. For example, chambers can be receptive to people from all walks of life.

“It is for us to ensure that we truly make our chambers inclusive. Encourage people with different ideas and different thoughts to come into our lives...Encourage young lawyers to join judicial service.”

By the end of his address, CJI marked that it is important that we learn to discharge our duties to the cause of justice which ranks much higher than the success or failure in individual cases.

“Winning and losing are not really in the hands of lawyers. Sometimes, it can be in the hands of an erratic Judge. But that is a part of the human element that pervades the legal profession.”

Before parting, CJI said, "I am sure the members of the bar will continue to pursue the cause of freedom while also retaining your own conscience their conscience. Keep that light burning bright."