Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud today chaired a Lok Adalat and shared the bench with senior Supreme Court Advocate Kapil Sibal, a rare occasion at the court.
The Chief Justice and Mr Sibal were part of the Lok Adalat along with Justice JB Pardiwala, Justice Manoj Mishra and Supreme Court Advocate On Record Association President, Vipin Nair. The cases are heard between July 29 and August 2 and are heard from 2 pm after the court's work.
Referring to a case that came to one of the Lok Adalats, the Chief Justice today said, "I remember a case in which the husband had filed divorce proceedings in Patiala House Court and his wife had filed maintenance proceedings and filed for the custody of the children. Both of them came together in the pre-Lok Adalat sitting and both decided that they would live together. So when both of them came before the Lok Adalat court, I asked them, and they said that they had decided to live together happily. The wife said that I do not want maintenance because we are living together very happily."
The Chief Justice said the idea of Lok Adalat is to settle small cases. "People do not realize how many small cases come to the Supreme Court. We choose cases like service, labour disputes, land acquisition, and motor accident claim cases to hear in the Lok Adalat."
"The presence of bar members as part of the Lok Adalat panel along with judges has given the right message to the entire society that we are united in our efforts to do justice, especially to the citizens involved in these small cases," Chief Justice Chandrachud said. The Chief Justice hopes that Lok Adalat becomes institutionalised in the Supreme Court in the future.
Speaking to NDTV, Mr Sibal said, "For the first time, I was not on the side of the bar but on the side of the bench. It is a matter of luck that he got a chance to share the bench with judges like this."
Mr Sibal said when the Supreme Court started live streaming, he was the first to initiate the debate in the Maharashtra case. The move of setting up Lok Adalat is a great step by the Supreme Court, he added.
SCBA General Secretary Vikrant Yadav and SCORA Secretary Nikhil Jain sat in Courtroom 3 with Justice BR Gavai and Justice MM Sundresh. In Courtroom 4, Justice Suryakant and Justice Ujjal Bhuiyan were seen sharing the bench with senior advocate VV Giri and advocate K Parameshwar for the proceedings of the Lok Adalat with Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice PS Narasimha in Courtroom 5.
Senior advocate PS Patwalia and advocate Shadan Farasat sat on the bench in courtroom 6, Justice Abhay S Oak and Justice Dipankar Dutta were accompanied by senior advocate Huzaifa Ahmadi
In courtroom 7, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice PB Varale were accompanied by senior advocate Madhavi Divan and advocate Balaji Srinivasan were also part of the bench
SCORA secretary Nikhil Jain said this is a historic step taken by Chief Justice Chandrachud which will greatly benefit the common people.