Lawyers' instinct to question authority not merely a legacy of freedom struggle, relevant even today: CJI Surya Kant

Legal profession's instinct to test any exercise of authority against the values of justice, fairness and rule of law is not merely a legacy of India's freedom movement but remains relevant today, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said on Saturday.

He was delivering the chief guest's address at the Supreme Court Bar Association's Independence Day function on the Supreme Court lawns.

"I believe that instinct to examine the exercise of authority in any form or manner against the values of justice, fairness, and rule of law is not just a legacy of the freedom movement. It remains relevant to us even today, and reminds us of the foundational Constitutional rights that we have inherited, which enable us to protect the civil liberties of individuals," the CJI said.

He said lawyers are trained to look beyond the mere existence of a rule and ask whether the exercise of power was consistent with the principles meant to justify it.

This, he said, was the question that had confronted British colonial rule - if a government claims to rule through law, can that law deny liberty, equality and dignity to the people it governs.

Chief Justice Surya Kant said India's freedom struggle was not primarily an armed insurrection, but a sustained challenge to the legitimacy of colonial rule through political movements, petitions, public debate and the language of law.

The CJI further said that courts continue to serve as a unifying space where people from different backgrounds came to assert their constitutional rights, challenge arbitrary action and seek equal treatment under law.