CJI: People fed up with endless court proceedings, process becomes punishment

NEW DELHI: Accepting the problem faced by litigants and their frustration due to extended hearing And delay in the administration of justice, CJI DY Chandrachud said on Saturday that the process itself sometimes becomes a punishment, which is a matter of grave concern.
Speaking at the end of a week-long special Lok Adalat In a hearing before the Supreme Court in which over a thousand cases were settled, the CJI said Lok Adalat highlighted cases where litigants were willing to settle the dispute despite not receiving proper compensation because they were fed up with judiciary process and I wanted to get out of the system.
“Process is punishment. And that is a concern for all of us as judges. So we say very often that we will not allow this matter to be settled. Because the settlement reflects pre-existing inequalities in society. So as judges, we are trying to say that we will not settle the matter and we will try to get a better result,” the CJI said.
He said Lok Adalat brings justice to the doorsteps of the complainants and the system should be institutionalised. “I hope we will institutionalise this process of dispensing justice through Lok Adalat. It should not be just a one-off initiative, which will then be forgotten in the future,” he said.