Judiciary has to earn public respect, not try to command it: Chief Justice Khanna

“In elemental terms, the Supreme Court disposed of much cases than were filed, allowing america to trim the backlog for the archetypal clip successful 4 years,” CJI Sanjay Khanna said. File | Photo Credit: ANI

Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna indicated connected Tuesday (May 13, 2025) that a elemental process of weighing the pros and cons, being decisive and letting posterity find for itself whether helium took the close telephone of work helped the Supreme Court steer done the 2 abstracted controversies of judicial misconduct by High Court judges during his tenure arsenic apical judge.

In an informal enactment with journalists astatine the Supreme Court Press lounge aft helium held tribunal for the past clip connected his last time arsenic apical judge, Chief Justice Khanna said the judiciary had to gain nationalist respect, not effort to bid it. He spoke aboriginal successful the time astir the worrying facet of “truth deficit” successful the ineligible profession, saying it lone analyzable and delayed adjudication.

During the interaction, erstwhile asked astir his determination to people the records of the preliminary enquiry into Justice Yashwant Varma and guardant the enquiry committee study to the President and Parliament for action, Chief Justice Khanna said simply without elaborating that “judicial reasoning has to beryllium decisive. We spot the pluses and minuses and determine the contented rationally. The aboriginal tells you whether you did the close happening oregon not”.

It was Chief Justice of India-designate, Justice B.R. Gavai, who elaborated astir Chief Justice Khanna’s achievements arsenic a apical justice during a abbreviated six-month tenure, which besides saw the apex tribunal woody with the contention implicit Allahabad High Court judge, Justice Shekhar Yadav’s allegedly communal remarks during a programme.

“Chief Justice Khanna showed steadfast and principled enactment successful addressing instances of judicial misconduct. In 2 specified instances, helium acted with discretion and resolve, taking due steps to uphold the dignity of the tribunal portion maintaining the assurance and spot of his colleagues. His handling of these delicate matters reflected some organization work and idiosyncratic integrity,” Justice Gavai said successful his farewell remarks to the CJI.

Disclosure of assets

Listing the reforms introduced by Chief Justice Khanna, Justice Gavai referred to the corporate determination to disclose the assets of judges, the sharing of the afloat details of the assignment process of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts for nationalist scrutiny arsenic good arsenic publishing the names of candidates who were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for judicial appointments to High Courts for the past two-and-a-half years, since November 2022. Chief Justice Khanna besides kick-started the process of interacting with candidates shortlisted for the Benches of the High Courts.

In his ain code astatine his farewell, Chief Justice Khanna conveyed his alleviation astir the apex tribunal having achieved a lawsuit clearance ratio of implicit 100%, reaching 106.6%. “In elemental terms, the Supreme Court disposed of much cases than were filed, allowing america to trim the backlog for the archetypal clip successful 4 years,” helium explained.

“Chief Justice Khanna has demonstrated that interaction is not measured by the magnitude of clip successful bureau but the extent of one’s contributions. His tenure was not astir creating a spectacle oregon making sound for the involvement of attention. It was astir encouraging changes wrong the judiciary and ensuring that the strategy not lone functioned but besides evolved,” Justice Gavai said successful his ain address.

Attorney General of India R. Venkataramani succinctly compared Chief Justice Khanna to a “river that flowed quietly”.

Justice Gavai, who is taking oath arsenic the 52nd Chief Justice of India connected May 14, said the relation of a Chief Justice of India was not 1 of powerfulness but of profound duty.

Published - May 13, 2025 09:25 p.m. IST