NEW DELHI: Justice Surya Kant will take oath on Monday as the 53rd Chief Justice of India (CJI), marking the beginning of his 14-month tenure in the country's highest judicial office.
President Droupadi Murmu will administer the oath of office to Justice Kant, who succeeds incumbent CJI Bhushan R. Gavai. The President had earlier appointed Justice Surya Kant as the next Chief Justice of India "in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution", following the recommendation of CJI Gavai.
Justice Gavai, who demitted the CJI's office on Sunday upon attaining the age of 65, upheld the convention of naming the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court as his successor
Justice Surya Kant, born on February 10, 1962, in a middle-class family in Haryana, began his legal journey in Hisar in 1984 before moving to Chandigarh to practise before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Emphasising the need to strengthen alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, Justice Surya Kant said, "Mediation will also be implemented effectively to reduce the burden of millions of cases." Community mediation, he added, must be encouraged, especially to reduce disputes between state governments and between the Centre and the states.
Asked about the scope of employing AI to reduce the backlog of cases, Justice Surya Kant said that there are many issues and challenges. "It has advantages, but people also have some concerns. It can be used in procedural matters. However, everyone wants their case to be decided by a judge, " he said.
Indian courts are burdened with a massive load of 5.29 crore pending cases, according to official data up to July 21 available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG). Of these, 4.65 crore cases are pending in district and subordinate courts, 63.30 lakh in High Courts, and 86, 742 before the Supreme Court.