Attorney General R Venkataramani proposes legal reforms at joint JGLS -NLU Delhi seminar

A seminar on 'Delivering Justice in Time: Global Practices and Indian Experiences' was jointly organised by OP Jindal Global University (JGU), Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) and National Law University Delhi (NLU Delhi) on March 14, 2026.

Attorney General, R Venkataramani spoke on a new national protocol for plea bargaining. Hinting at strong consensus within the upper echelons of the judiciary, Venkataramani said,

"The Chief Justice of India has consented to have a strong internal discussion on it. Existing legal mechanisms will also be made ready to look with a new lens and that there is concession for the defense and the resource management for the state. The resource management for the state is not only relevant for the plea bargaining aspect. It is resource value for the state, essentially, like an economic principle which should run through the entire administration of justice. This is why I have been thinking about a National Institute for Criminal Justice Administration which will also have an everyday index where we watch the measurement and performance. Those who practice in the trial court will find out how painful it is for people to simply waste their resources for governments, institutions, people, lawyers and judges as well as time!"

Venkataramani also spoke about a legal health index for the country which would involve the legal fraternity and help them with a different perspective

“A Legal Health Index is important for our country. The Legal Health Index will probably identify factors which will include preventative and predictable procedures, the ease of justice, what roles each one of us can play and what kind of resources’ investment that we require. Therefore, a Legal Health Index should be properly conceived, identified and then operationalized. And who should do that? I do not think it needs to be necessarily in the hands of governance institutions but it is a role for law schools and universities in conceiving and maintaining the Legal Health Index. It’s important also for the community to get intellectually involved and to give a different point of view.”

Senior Advocate, Supreme Court and Member of Parliament, Dr Abhishek M Singhvi spoke about the large pendency of cases in India.

"We need to deal with the ‘ABCD’—the access, backlog, cost and delay issues, and the obvious step is to appoint court judges. We need to fill judicial vacancies, adopt multi-track case management systems, resolve very old cases through dedicated mechanisms, strengthen mediation and revive Gram Nyayalayas, and improve coordination across courts, police and prisons."

Founding Vice-Chancellor, JGU, Prof (Dr) C Raj Kumar emphasized that the rule of law depends on the ability of institutions to deliver justice in a timely, fair and effective manner.

"I propose five pillars for transforming justice delivery: These include: strengthening judicial capacity; procedural reform and active case management; technology and artificial intelligence in courts; expansion of plea bargaining and pre-trial mechanisms; and data-driven justice governance.”

Vice-Chancellor, NLU Delhi, Prof (Dr) GS Bajpai reflected on the deeper meaning of the seminar’s theme: 'Justice in Time' He cautioned that speed alone does not equal justice. True legitimacy in the justice system, he noted, depends on fairness, transparency and procedural integrity.

He called for an empirical evaluation of the timelines introduced in India’s new criminal laws and emphasized the need to strengthen victim justice frameworks, continuous legal aid from early stages, and a coherent national sentencing policy.

The event was a day-long seminar with several sessions which included Institutional & Procedural Reforms: Improving Efficiency In Court Systems; Technology and Timely Justice: Digital Courts, AI, and Data Governance; and Plea Bargaining and Pre-Trial Mechanisms: Efficiency Without Compromising Justice.

Senior lawyers, legal experts and academics were in attendance at the sessions including Dr Pinky Anand, Tanveer Ahmed Mir, Geeta Luthra, Vrinda Bhandari, Satvik Varma, from NLU Delhi, Dr Garima Tiwari, Aprajita Bhatt, Priyanshi Singh, and from JGLS, Prof Shireen Moti, Prof Paavni Jain, Prof Vaibhav Chadha, Prof (Dr) Khagesh Gautam.

Founder, CEO, Vetoai Technologies Bharat Ltd, Aryan Grover, and Chief Legal Officer, Adalat AI, Parth Maniktala were also in participation at the seminar.

Introductory remarks were given by Assistant Professor, JGLS, Prof Aparna Babu George. The Vote of Thanks was delivered by Registrar, JGU, Prof Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik.

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