Supreme Court on its 71st Anniversary 'Ensures That Access To Justice Remains Unhindered'

Supreme Court on its 71st Anniversary 'Ensures That Access To Justice Remains Unhindered'

The Supreme Court of India (SC), on its 71st Anniversary, in a press release stated that the Top Court has ensured that the access to justice remains unhindered.

On 28 January 1950, the SC held its first sitting the Chamber of Princes in the Parliament comprising of Chief Justice HarilalJ.Kania and Justices Saiyid Fazl Ali, M. Patanjali Sastri, Mehr Chand Mahajan, Bijan Kumar Mukherjea, and S.R.Das. These Bench members held the first sitting of the SC.

The Chief Justices of various High Courts, Attorney General, Advocate Generals, Prime Minister, other Ministers Ambassadors and diplomatic representatives of foreign States, Senior Advocates also participated during the inaugural function. The proceedings of the SC continued in the parliament building until it moved into the present building in 1958.

The press release issued on 28 January 2021 by the Public Relations Officer of the Court read, "In all these years the Apex Court under the mandate given to it by the Constitution of India has relentlessly marched towards ensuring the protection of rights and liberties of the citizens, upholding rule of law and the Constitutional Values.

The Supreme Court has faced various challenges in its journey, but it remained committed to its duties and ensured that access to justice remains unhindered. One such major and unprecedented challenge recently faced in the year 2020 was widespread of highly contagious Corona Virus."

The press release also explained the challenges faced by the Top Court during COVID-19 Pandemic and how it overcomes all the hurdles. The press release mentioned, "Despite the nationwide lockdown announced from 23 March 2020, the Apex Court ensured access to Justice remains unabated. During this period, 43,713 hearings were held by 1998 benches through Video Conferencing mode till 31 December 2020".

It further read, "During these unprecedented challenges, the Court remained functional throughout, though number of benches was reduced. Beyond the usual minimum required 190 days Court sittings in a Calendar Year, the Court was functional for 231 days, including 13 vacation sittings in the year 2020. The Registry also remained functional for 271 days as against an average of 268 days in the previous three years".

In the press release, it was emphasized that "The Registry's working strength was affected considerably with 408 officials/staff infected with Covid-19 and an unfortunate loss of life of one official. However, almost 99% of the officials/staff so reported positive for the infection were asymptomatic or with mild symptoms.

This early detection and cure were possible due to rigorous implementation of Covid-19 protocols and regular testing of officials/staff at periodic intervals and strict contact tracing mechanism and sanitization procedure."