Supreme Court Justice Ranjan P Gogoi delivered a speech in Ramnath Goenka Lecture in New Delhi, stating that the Indian judiciary needs a ‘revolution, not reforms’.
Gogoi will most probably be selected as the next Chief Justice of India. In his speech, he discussed the topic “The Vision of Justice” and addressed the issues faced by the current judiciary system.
Gogoi recommended introspection in the judiciary system. He also acknowledged the problems faced by the courts; most common being “backlog” and a “high pendency of cases”. He said the courts must remain “independent”, “fierce” and “uncontaminated”.
Gogoi said in his ‘Vision’ speech that the judiciary should become more ” proactive” and be more on the “front foot”.
Gogoi had been one of the judges who held a press conference in January this year against the current CJI Dipak Misra and brought certain issues into the limelight like the functioning of the Supreme Court, especially the “allocation of cases and the packing of benches”.
He also praised the judiciary in his speech, calling it the ” last bastion of hope” and a “proud guardian of the great constitutional vision”. He reformed the earlier statement, “independent judges and noisy journalists are democracy’s first line of defence” and said “not only independent judges and noisy journalists, but even independent journalists and sometimes noisy judges”.
Gogoi said to increase the effectiveness in justice dispensation, the system should be made more “result-oriented” and “focused on enforcement”.
He also emphasised on the issues of the judiciary system which needs to be resolved via introspection.