'Social media one of the biggest challenges': Chief Justice Chandrachud at HTLS

Justice DY Chandrachud speaks at the HT Leadership Summit 2022 days after taking charge as the 50th Chief Justice of India.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud - who took charge as the 50th Chief Justice of India earlier this week - on Saturday spoke about the current set of challenges that are faced by the judges of constitutional courts. “The first challenge we face is that of expectations,” Justice DY Chandrachud underlined while speaking at the 20th edition of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, as he spoke about the different kinds of cases that come up in the top court.

Justice DY Chandrachud speaks at the HT Leadership Summit 2022.

Social media is also one of the biggest challenges of the current times, he further said. “Everything said by a judge in course of a case hearing is not what is the final view,” the Chief Justice stressed. "So there is a free-flowing dialogue when a case is heard. Realtime reporting - on quotes by judges - is put out on Twitter or Telegram and Instagram and you are constantly evaluated. If a judge keeps quiet it will have a dangerous effect on the decision-making," he underlined.

Speaking further, the Chief Justice highlighted that E-court (electronic) services now reach not just to metros but villages. "We need to refashion ourselves, recoup and rethink how we adapt to (the) challenges of our age. We live in a country where access to the internet is not robust. Court buildings create an awe in the minds of litigants....that was the design of colonial mindset. Technology allowed us to replace the model where citizens accessed courts allowing Courts to access litigants," he shared.

Technology has helped judges take a relook at the traditional ways of working, the Chief Justice underscored while also speaking about live-streaming of cases in high courts and the top court. "You generate a sense of responsiveness to citizens. We need to live stream proceedings of district judiciary as it is the first interface for citizens. Citizens are entitled to know the mind of judicial functioning. One of the greatest dangers for institutions in a constitutional democracy is to be opaque," he said.