Supreme Court Turns 75, Chief Justice Explains What "Near Future" Holds

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud today said the Supreme Court will soon migrate its digital data to a cloud-based infrastructure, while addressing a gathering of judges and other legal luminaries as the court turned 75 years today. He said the ability of the Supreme Court to remain relevant as an institution needs recognising challenges and starting difficult conversations.

The digital Supreme Court reports will make judgments available to people for free in a digital format. All 519 volumes of Supreme Court reports since 1950, covering 36,308 cases, will be available in digital format, bookmarked, user-friendly and with open access.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the celebrations today. A new website of the Supreme Court was also launched.

"Today is a momentous occasion... It was through the Constitution that people gave it to themselves this court. The Constitution is about mutual respect towards fellow citizens," Chief Justice Chandrachud said in his address.

The Supreme Court held its inaugural sitting on January 28, 1950.

"What is the future... We are also on the verge of opening a war room equipped with technology enabling the Supreme Court to monitor real-time judicial data of the entire country," Chief Justice Chandrachud said.

"1.23 lakh passes have been generated digitally using Suswagatam. The Supreme Court will move all its files to a safe and sovereign cloud-based infrastructure," he said.

Suswagatam is an online app that allows users to register and request e-passes to attend court proceedings or meet lawyers, among other activity.

Chief Justice Chandrachud said more and more women professionals are seen in important posts across the nation now. "Earlier, the law profession was an elite men profession, but now woman constitutes 36 per cent of the district judiciary. Over 50 per cent of recent selected candidates were also women," he said, adding 41 per cent of law clerks who assist judges are women.

The Supreme Court last week designated 11 women lawyers as senior advocates.

"In the near future, we must address the structural issues affecting the judiciary, such as pendency of cases, archaic procedures, and the culture of adjournments. Our effort in our work as judges and administrators must be to ensure dignity to the district judiciary, which is the first point of contact for citizens. Our ability to remain relevant as an institution requires us to recognise challenges and begin difficult conversations," the Chief Justice of India said.

"First, we must emerge out of the adjournment culture to a culture of professionalism; second, we have to ensure that the length of oral arguments does not interminably delay judicial outcomes; third, the legal profession must provide a level playing field for first-generation lawyers - men, women, and others from marginalised segments who have the will to work and the potential to succeed, and fourth, let us begin the conversation on long vacations and whether alternatives such as flexitime for lawyers and judges is possible," Chief Justice Chandrachud said.