Emphasising that access to justice must be measured by the lived experience of ordinary citizens, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on December 14 called for a collective effort by the Bench, Bar, government and litigants to reduce delays and costs that quietly erode the dignity of ordinary litigants.

To drive home the need for such cooperation by all stakeholders, the CJI said,

“Our justice system may be likened to a chariot. The Bench, the Bar, the Administration, and the Citizen are its four wheels. If even one refuses to move, the journey halts."

CJI Kant made the observation in his keynote address at a symposium organised by the Orissa High Court Bar Association on the theme, “Ensuring Justice for the Common Man: Strategies for Reducing Litigation Costs and Delays.”

CJI Kant said that ensuring justice for the common citizen was the foremost moral imperative guiding judicial reform.

He stated that the true test of the justice delivery system lay not in doctrine or theory, but in the everyday experience of the citizens.

“The true test of our judicial system is not in its theories, but in the lived experience of the ordinary citizen. The Rule of Law acquires meaning only when justice feels predictable, accessible, and humane," he said.

Addressing judges, senior advocates and members of the Bar at Saheed Bhawan, CJI Kant said that case backlog was not just about numbers, but about an entire system under strain.

“Pendency is not just a number; it is an ecosystem. It clogs every level of the judicial structure. And when a blockage occurs at the top, the pressure only intensifies below," he observed.

The CJI noted that the Supreme Court was actively working to conclusively dispose long-pending matters, particularly those involving settled or repetitive legal issues.

Bringing closure to such cases, he explained, would reduce uncertainty and help get to proceedings that have remained stalled for years in trial courts across the country.

Describing this exercise as “system stabilisation” rather than docket management, CJI Kant said finality at the apex level enables movement throughout the judicial hierarchy.

CJI Kant also shared an anecdote from his early years at the Bar, recalling an elderly farmer sitting outside a courtroom, waiting well into the afternoon for his case to be taken up, listed far down the cause list.

“When I asked him why he was still waiting, he said, ‘If I go home early, the other side will think I have given up’... For him, delay was not a docket statistic. It was a quiet erosion of dignity. And cost was not a legal expenditure. It was a financial winter he had to endure,” said CJI Kant.

He warned that prolonged litigation and escalating expenses strike at the heart of Article 21, noting that dignity is “compromised and killed through a thousand cuts” when justice becomes slow and unaffordable.

Highlighting Alternative Dispute Resolution, particularly mediation, as a key instrument to reduce litigation burdens, CJI Kant said,

"Settlement is not surrender; it is strategy. India already has the legal architecture for mediation. What we need now is the cultural commitment to use it.”

CJI Kant also cautioned against forum shopping and called upon government departments to move away from reflexive appeals driven by “institutional anxiety” rather than legal necessity.

On technology, the CJI acknowledged its role in collapsing distance and accelerating procedures but warned against uncritical reliance.

“A reform that excludes the poor, the elderly, or the digitally unfamiliar is not reform at all, it is regression. That is why I have always maintained that technology must remain a servant of justice, not its substitute: it should amplify human judgment, not replace it," he said.

CJI Kant also stressed that judicial delays cannot be tackled without strengthening court infrastructure, noting that even the most well-intentioned justice delivery system will falter if it lacks adequate physical and human resources.

He added that courtrooms, staff, technology and basic facilities should be seen not as expenses, but as investments in the Rule of Law.

Pointing to the success of specialised courts in areas such as family and commercial law, CJI Kant said smarter docket management had shown that cases could be resolved faster without sacrificing quality.

He called for expanding these models and advocated setting up exclusive courts for time-bound trials, especially to handle complex crimes with national and international implications.

Concluding the address, CJI Kant called for replacing the vicious cycle of pendency with a virtuous one rooted in public trust. He said,

“When pendency falls, trust rises; when trust rises, respect for law deepens; and when respect deepens, disputes diminish," he observed.