CHIEF JUSTICE of India on Saturday said he will try to do his best to uphold the rule of law and Constitution. He was speaking at a felicitation ceremony organised in his honour by the Bar Council of India (BCI).
Addressing the gathering, said, “The only thing I can say is that whatever short period that I have, I will do my best to stand by my oath to uphold the rule of law, to uphold the Constitution of India, and make an attempt to reach the commonest mind of this country, the vast majority of its citizens, so that the vision and promise of the Constitution of social and economic equality along with political equality, is brought into reality.”
He said, “Wherever there is conflict between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy, Kesavananda Bharati has been our guiding light. It was the Kesavananda Bharati judgment which said Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy together are the soul of the Constitution of India.”
CJI Gavai, who took over as the country’s 52nd Chief Justice on May 14, said that in his years as an HC judge and SC judge, he did his best to uphold social and economic justice. “I have done my best… wherever an opportunity came, to ensure that the social justice and economic justice within the four corners of the Constitution is attempted to be achieved.”
He called for cooperation between the judiciary and executive to fill vacancies and resolve the issue of pendency. “I would request the learned Solicitor to convey our request to the executive that, by a cooperative approach, we must ensure to minimise the vacancies as much as we can so that to some extent the issue of pendency is resolved,” he said.
Regarding appointing more women as judges, the CJI said he had “spoken to many of the Chief Justices that if they do not have a woman candidate in their High Courts, they should take from a very good pool of women advocates who are practicing in the Supreme Court, and to some extent, we have been successful in that”.
On why he had not given one-to-one interviews at the time of taking over as CJI, he said though he was shy of giving interviews, he is of the view that judges should remain engaged with society to better understand its issues. He added that he did not want to make promises he could not fulfill.
