CJI Surya Kant bats for institutionalising engagement of retired judges as arbitrators, law teachers

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Saturday called for a structured national registry of retired judges willing to oversee alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes and serve in other post-retirement roles including legal education and awareness initiatives. .He outlined four specific roles for former judges in this framework: as mediators and arbitrators in commercial and family matters, as legal educators in schools, colleges, and Gram Panchayats to explain legal rights in plain language; as pre-litigation counsellors; and as institution builders mentoring the next generation of mediators and legal aid lawyers.To this end, he called for a formal Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between the Association of Retired Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts of India, State Legal Services Authorities, and High Courts across the country.The CJI underscored that a judge's retirement from the Bench did not mark the end of their judicial purpose."When a judge retires, we arrange a function. We garland them, we present a shawl, and we speak warmly of decades of distinguished service. Then, we quietly assume that the show will go on as usual even without them. The chamber is vacated. The files are handed over. And we move on. However that critical assumption is, in my view, among our most wasteful traditions. For the robe may be retired. The judge never is. It is a truth universally known that once a judge, is always a judge," he said..He was speaking at the All India Retired Judges Conference organised by the Association of Retired Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts of India headed by Justice Narendra Kumar Jain and the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority.The conference theme was "The Bench Beyond Retirement: The Role of Retired Judges in Advancement of ADR and Awareness of Laws for Common Masses."In his speech, he argued that judges carried something no institution could manufacture or replicate."You (judges) carry not merely knowledge of law. Any library can offer that. You carry knowledge of people," he said.He observed that such accumulated wisdom would be left idle, if retired judges were not capitalised in various roles beyond just courts. .On the trust that former judges commanded among ordinary litigants, he added,"People trust someone who once wore the robe. That trust, painstakingly earned over years of conscientious service, is a national resource as precious as water in the deep desert.".The CJI was emphatic that the call was not for ad hoc participation. "I am calling for a formal framework: a structured National Registry of Former Judges willing to serve in ADR and legal awareness capacities; Memoranda of Understanding between this Association, State Legal Services Authorities, and the High Courts," he said. He added that the engagement must be recognised as institutionalised participation, with dignity, support, and accountability on all sides, not mere volunteerism..He also spoke of the emotional reality of life after serving as judges. He said the sense of disorientation judges felt after retirement was itself evidence that their purpose had not run out."The purpose has not expired. It has simply lost its address. Today's Conference is, in part, about giving it a new one," he said..The CJI questioned the framing of mediation, Lok Adalats, arbitration, and conciliation as "alternative" dispute resolution mechanisms. "I have never been comfortable with that expression," he said.For millions of Indians, he said, these were not a supplement or an "alternative" justice system, but rather "the only door."