New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu Sunday suggested that the selection of judges to courts could be done through the conduct of a nationwide All India Judicial Service examination.
Delivering the inaugural address at the Constitution Day celebrations organised by the Supreme Court, Murmu said: “There can be an All-India Judicial Service which can select brilliant youngsters and nurture and promote their talents from lower levels to higher levels. Those who aspire to serve the Bench can be selected from across the country to create a larger pool of talent. Such a system can offer opportunities to the less-represented social groups too”.
Murmu stressed that in order to improve access to justice, “we should seek to make the overall system citizen-centric. Our systems have been products of time; more precisely, products of colonialism. Clearing away its vestiges has been a work in progress”. She expressed confidence that we can speed up the remaining part of de-colonisation in all domains with more conscious efforts.
President Murmu said that a more varied representation of India’s unique diversity on the bench and bar definitely helps serve the cause of justice better. “One way to hasten this diversification process can be the creation of a system in which judges can be recruited from varied backgrounds through a process which is merit-based, competitive and transparent”, she said.
The President said that the cause of justice is best served by making it accessible for all, which also strengthens equality and “we should ask ourselves whether every single citizen is in a position to seek justice”. “On introspection, we realise that there are many barriers in the way. Cost is the most significant factor. There are other barriers like language, which is beyond the comprehension of a majority of citizens”, she said.
The President said that as “we celebrate the Constitution Day, we should note that the Constitution is after all only a written document”. “It comes alive and remains alive only if its contents are put into practice. That requires the exercise of interpretation”, she said.
The President appreciated the Supreme Court for playing the role of the final interpreter of our founding document to perfection. She stated that this Court’s bar and bench have constantly raised the standards of jurisprudence. “Their legal acumen and scholarship have been par excellence. Like our Constitution, our Supreme Court too has been a model for many other nations. She expressed confidence that with a vibrant judiciary, the health of our democracy is never going to be a cause of concern”, she said.
The event was also attended by the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, apex court judges Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Attorney General R Venkataramani, and others. Meghwal said India was able to strengthen democracy as the judiciary and the governments did their work and the country fared better than its neighbours due to its Constitution, which he described as a living document, and stressed that the country has been able to come out of adverse situations due to its Constitution.
“Countries around us got independence — Pakistan attained independence with us; Sri Lanka got independence before us but disturbance, Nepal there was disturbance, there was disturbance in Myanmar,” he said. The minister further added that Bangladesh also faced problems.
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