Pendency of cases 'huge challenge': CJI
New Delhi: Terming pendency of cases a "huge challenge", Chief Justice of India N V Ramana on Friday expressed regret for not being able to pay much attention to issues of listing and posting of matters for hearing in the Supreme Court.
The CJI, who is to demit office on Friday, said there is a need to deploy modern technology tools and artificial intelligence to find a solution.
"Even though we tried developing some modules, because of the compatibility and security issues, we could not make much progress," Justice Ramana, who was heading the ceremonial bench, said.
He said during the COVID-19 pandemic, the priority was running of the courts and unlike commercial establishments, "we cannot secure the technological tools from the market directly".
"We have to admit the fact that the pendency is a huge challenge before us. I must admit that issues of listing and posting of matters is one of the areas on which I could not pay much attention. I am sorry for that," the CJI said, adding, "We are busy in fire-fighting on all days".
Recently, senior advocate and former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Dushyant Dave had said that the CJI should not have the power to assign and list cases, and a fully automated system for allocation be put in place in the top court.
He had referred to the problems faced by young lawyers in getting their matters listed in the apex court.
In his first farewell speech for the day, Justice Ramana said the needs of the judiciary were different from those of the rest.
CJI NV Ramana took path-breaking judicial and administrative decisions that included putting the sedition law on hold, reviewing the money laundering verdict, ordering probes into Pegasus snooping and Lakhimpur Kheri cases and ensuring appointments of record 11 judges in the top court and over 220 in high courts.
On his last day in the office, the 48th CJI got one more feather in his cap by ensuring live streaming of Supreme Court proceedings of the ceremonial bench headed by him by implementing the 2018 verdict which had allowed such webcasts.
Hailing from an agriculturist family in Ponnavaram village of Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district, Justice Ramana had succeeded S A Bobde on April 24, 2021 with a dire situation of huge unfilled vacancies in the top court and the high courts staring at the face of the judiciary.
The apex court had not got a single judge after the superannuation of the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi on November 17, 2019 and had nine existing vacancies when CJI Ramana took over and the high courts had around 600 vacancies.
Creating a record, the CJI headed apex court collegium meetings led to appointment of 11 Supreme Court judges with nine of them, including three women, appointed in one go.
Justice Ramana recommended 224 names from several bars and the judicial services for judgeship in high courts, besides ensuring uninterrupted functioning of courts during pandemic.
He also ensured nearly 100 appointments of presiding officers, technical and legal members in tribunals across the nation.
