Legal aid not charity, but moral duty, says CJI

NALSA Executive Chairman and CJI-designate Justice Surya Kant, addressing the event, said, “the notion of ‘access to justice’ is not an abstract ideal but rather a sapient right that must be continuously nurtured through institutional strength, professional competence, and compassionate engagement.”

Justice Kant said NALSA has evolved “from a statutory body into a symbol of constitutional empathy”.

The CJI said that “Legal Services Authorities should actively collaborate with academic institutions, research organisations, and professional bodies to conduct periodic social audits of our schemes and interventions” as “such partnerships can help… assess not only how many people we have reached, but how deeply and meaningfully our interventions have improved their lives”.

Underlining the need for a long-term shared institutional vision while conceiving and executing legal services authorities, CJI Gavai said that “at present, much of our planning is often shaped by the tenure and priorities of individual Executive Chairpersons, each of whom may have only a limited period to conceptualise and implement initiatives”. He added that “while this brings diversity of ideas, it also makes continuity and sustained implementation a challenge”.

To address this, the CJI suggested “creation of an Advisory Committee at NALSA and SLSAs (State Legal Services Authorities) respectively, comprising the current Executive Chairpersons and two or three future or incoming Executive Chairpersons. This committee could meet quarterly or every six months to discuss and oversee projects with a long-term perspective”.

“Such an arrangement”, he said, “would help institutionalise vision-based planning and ensure that key programmes, whether related to access to justice, awareness, or digital transformation, are carried forward consistently, regardless of administrative changes.”

The CJI pointed out that while “judicial training often teaches” judges “to maintain a certain distance, to weigh evidence dispassionately, and to apply reasoned judgment, the work of legal aid demands the opposite sensibilities: empathy, collaboration, and the ability to see beyond procedure into the conditions that produce injustice”.

He advised judicial officers who come on deputation to the Legal Services Authorities, to realise that their “role is not to adjudicate but to connect, to coordinate with officials from government departments, to build partnerships with civil society organisations, and to reach out to citizens with compassion and clarity.”

“… We must learn to listen before we act, to facilitate rather than to direct, and to see ourselves not as authority figures but as partners in the shared mission of delivering justice to those who have long been excluded from its reach…” the CJI said.

Recalling his visit to Manipur, where ethnic clashes erupted in May 2023, as Executive Chairman of NALSA along with some colleagues, CJI Gavai said, “We went to both the refugee camps of Meiteis and Kukis, and we are happy to see a smile on their faces.”