From partition’s horrors to global leader: CJI Sanjiv Khanna hails Constitution’s role in India’s transformation

CJI Khanna reminded that the Constitution is a way of life that has to be lived up to. “We renew our pledge to be trustees and custodians of the Constitution. It is a tribute to its enduring legacy and the present future commitment to the supreme text which we must commemorate,” he said.

The Bar, he said, is as much part of the judiciary and lawyers contribute to the Judiciary as they become the spokesperson of aggrieved citizens.

“We often refer to the judiciary as persons in robes; that is the judges. But the judiciary equally represents the Bar. I cannot visualise the judiciary where the members of the Bar are not part and parcel of it. Judges come from the bar and go back to the bar… The better the bar, the better the judges. There is another way the bar contributes to the judiciary. You become the spokesperson and the first person to whom the citizens come and repose faith,” the CJI told the lawyers.

CJI lawyers pointed out the “You are the ones who come and present a case before us. You are the ones who point out the legal principles and help us adjudicate. Therefore, it is said, judges shine in reflected glory. I cannot imagine any, adjudicatory system in India where the Bar does not contribute and help us adjudicate and decide”, the CJi added.

CJI Khanna pointed out that “lawyers in the Supreme Court have another role to play. You belong to different parts of the country. You come to Delhi, you become part and parcel of the unified judicial system which the apex court represents. I have immensely benefited from the judges from different part of the country, their different thought processes, the way they look at things, and the legal principles they have been drawn and brought up with.”

Recalling that the SC has taken “decisions right from environmental laws, privacy laws, fundamental rights, the basic structure doctrine”, the CJI said “Many of these decisions, I do not think, would have been possible without the contribution and the efforts of the members of the Bar. We, therefore, require the members of the bar to come up to the principles and ideals set out in the charter of the constitutional day.”

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