Legislature needs to rethink, reform laws to suit time and people’s needs: CJI NV Ramana
Chief Justice of India, Justice NV Ramana on Saturday said the Legislature needs to revisit the laws and reform them as per the time and needs of the people so that they match the “practical realities”.
Inaugurating the new building of the Odisha State Legal Services Authority, the CJI also said that the executive and the legislature need to work hand in hand to realize the “constitutional aspirations”.
“I emphasize, our laws must match our practical realities. The executive must match these efforts by simplifying the relevant rules.”
He also emphasized that it was important for the executive and the legislature to “work together in realizing constitutional aspirations”.
The CJI said that only then the judiciary would not be compelled to step in as a law-maker and would only be left with the duty of enforcing and interpreting the laws.
At the end of the day, it is the harmonious functioning of the three organs of the state that can remove procedural barriers to justice, he pointed out.
Stating that the Indian judicial system is facing dual challenges, the CJI said the first is “Indianisation of the justice delivery system”.
Even after 74 years of independence, the traditional and agrarian societies, which are following the traditional way of life, “feel hesitant to approach the court,” he said.
“The practices, procedures, language of our courts seem different to them”, he said, adding that between the complex language of acts and the process of justice delivery, the common man loses control over the fate of his complaint.
He pointed out that often in this path the justice-seeker feels like an outsider to the system.
However, he said that though this is a harsh reality, often the Indian legal system fails to take into account the social realities and implications.
“Unfortunately, our system is designed in such a way that by the time all the facts and the law are churned out in court, a lot is lost. The CJI said people can bring their problems to the courts, but what remains at the end of a day is another “matter”.
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