Judges today trying to exhibit talent rather than being justice-oriented: Former CJI UU Lalit

Judges today are more focused on exhibiting their talent rather than being justice-oriented, former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit recently said..This, he said, has led to "quotational jurisprudence" where judgments delivered by different courts including the High Courts and trial courts are studded with “quotations".“Perhaps I think you are not utilizing your talent in a more fruitful way. So therefore, rather than being justice-oriented, you are now trying to exhibit your talent, which is something I have seen over a period of time which is gathering and which is gaining importance nowadays,” the former CJI added.He was commenting on the growing impact of the media on the judiciary.“What I now find is a recent trend which is...it is like on any proposition, there would be quotations after quotations. You get to see this new jurisprudence. I call it quotational jurisprudence,” he said.Explaining his point further, Justice Lalit said that it was as if the judges were thinking that their judgment would be the last judgment on the point and “therefore it will be helpful for those who come out with digests on that issue.”.The former CJI made these remarks during a dialogue with Justices Mukta Gupta, S Muralidhar, Badar Ahmed, and R Basant, moderated by Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran and advocate Malvika Prasad.The dialogue titled "Conversations on Justice" was organised in honour of recently retired Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat by Justice Bhat's family, friends and current and former law clerks.The event was held at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi..Senior Advocate R Basant, a former judge of the Kerala High Court, called media hype an occupational hazard for every judge.He stressed on the need for judges to withstand the pressure built by the media, including social media. On criticism of judges in the media, Justice Basant said the judiciary was also responsible for the trend.Read what retired Justice S Muralidhar said here.Read what retired Justice BD Ahmed said here.Read what retired Justice R Basant said here..[Watch full event below]