“Constitution a way of life to be lived up to,” says CJI Sanjiv Khanna on Constitution Day celebration of the Supreme Court Bar Association

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday, extended the greetings of ‘Constitution Day’ and attended the Constitution Day celebration of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Addressing the significant day, he emphasised the role of the Constitution in Indian democracy post-independence. He described the Constitution of India as a “transformative approach & a way of life.”

“India, since independence, has had a transformative journey from a nation which under the aftermaths of the horror of partition, widespread illiteracy, poverty and hunger, lack of a robust democratic system of checks and balances resulting in self-doubt has emerged today as a mature and a vibrant democracy, a self-assured nation, a geopolitical leader..,” he said.

“But at the back of it is the Constitution of India which has helped this transformation. It is today a way of life that has to be lived up to…My tenure as a member of the Bar is certainly longer than my tenure as a judge. Judges come from the bar and go back to the bar. We belong to the bar, the better the bar, the better the judges.,” he added.

CJI further urged the bar members to come up with the principles and ideals set out in the Charter of the Constitutional Day.
“Indian Supreme Court has had a very strong, good legacy. We have decisions right from environmental laws, privacy laws, fundamental rights, and the basic structure doctrine. Many of these decisions, I do not think would have been possible without the contribution and the efforts of the member of the bar. We therefore require the members of the bar to come up with the principles and ideals set out in the Charter of the Constitutional Day. We have made various attempts since I took over the chief justice. I have made various attempts to look into the issues and problems which we are facing as members of the bar we have now allowed,” he said.

Meanwhile, he also mentioned getting the requests related to the re-circulation of letters of adjournment and that it won’t be possible to revert to the old system.

The CJI also mentioned that the new system has reduced the number of applications significantly, from 100 per day to 100-50 per month and said that he is open to suggestions for improvements to the current system.

“I have one request to make and I hope it will be taken in the right spirit. I have been repeatedly getting requests for re-circulation of letters of adjournment. I have looked into the data. The data shows that there were about 9,000-10,000 applications or letters for adjournments being circulated every 3 months which is more than 1,000 applications or letters for adjournment every day, so it is not going to be possible for us to go back to the earlier system,” he said.

“Whatever system we have now adopted, we can. If you look, if you come up with some suggestions for improvements, we look into it but going back to the earlier system may be counterproductive, I can share them with you. We received about 1400 odd applications during the new system. In the last 11 months, you can see the difference from 100 applications a day to about 100 and 50 applications a month,” he added.