I have some Supreme Court lawyers in mind for elevation to High Courts: CJI DY Chandrachud

The Chief of Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Monday said that he is contemplating elevating some Supreme Court lawyers as judges of various High Courts..The CJI said that he will impress upon the Chief Justices of the concerned High Courts regarding the same, while also ensuring that the chance of High Court lawyers for elevation to the concerned High Court is not compromised."I have a list of names in mind who can be good High Court judges and those who practice in Supreme court. I will try to impress upon the High Court Chief justices about the same ..Of course not compromising the chance of High Court lawyers," he said.The CJI was speaking at his felicitation by the Supreme Court Bar Association.The statement was made in response to demands by the Supreme Court Bar Association to elevate Supreme Court lawyers to High Courts. Traditionally, only lawyers practicing in High Courts are elevated to the concerned High Court though there has been rare instances when Supreme Court lawyers have also been made High Court judges. Pertinently, the CJI said that he aims to use technology to bring about an institutional change in the listing process to reduce human interface so that the subjective role of the CJI is reduced."In listing process, I aim to use technology so the element of human interface is reduced and we are trying to prepare Standard Operating Procedure so that it does not matter who is the CJI and so that there is an institutional change," the CJI said..In his speech, the CJI also said that despite being told to devote more time to administrative work, judicial time was more important to him."CJI is first among equals. First he is a judge and he has to fulfill the first purpose of a judge. I have been told to devote more time to administrative work but the devotion to judicial time is more important to me," he said.He added that his aim is to tap into the collective wisdom as well as talent of Supreme Court Judges and underlined the experience of Justices Narasimha and Bela Trivedi."This office which I hold is in trust of citizen and people. Judges of the Supreme Court are better than me and their collective wisdom is what we have not traditionally tapped and that is what I have been told and I aim to do that. So the talent has to be tapped. There are judges from the bar who can help us with their experience, like Justice Narasimha. Justice Bela Trivedi has experience at the district judiciary," he stated..On the demands made by the bar, the CJI said that they were reasonable and accommodating them was certainly possible with cooperation from his senior colleagues."So many genuine requests from SCBA, I have been in talks. All your demands are very reasonable and question is how to accommodate them. I am sure with cooperation from my senior colleagues we will be able to do it," he said..[Read our live-coverage of the event here]