justice-delayed-is-justice-destroyed-cji-surya-kant

In an observation to drive home the point and push on speedy trials, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Saturday said that delay in judicial intervention does not merely deny justice but destroys it, warning that citizens often lose their only real protection when courts fail to act in time.

 

The CJI emphasised that for many citizens, particularly those facing executive action, the High Court’s ability to intervene at the very first hearing often determines whether justice is experienced at all.“For a small farmer whose land is being seized or a student wrongly denied admission, justice delayed is not justice denied, it is justice destroyed. The High Court’s ability, therefore, to stay an executive action at the very first hearing is often the only real access the citizen ever experiences.”, he said.

 

Liberty in India would never again be left at the mercy of unchecked state power if High Courts remain vigilant, responsive and accessible to ordinary citizens, Justice Kant further remarked.“In India, liberty will never again be at the mercy of unchecked authority for the High Courts remain ever vigilant, ever responsive, and ever the proud sentinels of our freedom,” he added.Kant was delivering the Fali Nariman Memorial Lecture organised by the Bombay Bar Association.He underlined that High Courts occupy a unique and critical position in India’s constitutional framework, acting as the first and most vital line of defence for citizens against illegal detention, administrative excess and violations of dignity.

 

"The High Court's power to grant interim relief under article 226) is the hallmark of the Court's protective jurisdiction to intervene at the threshold, ensuring that the status quo is preserved so that justice is not defeated by the fait accompli of administrative haste," he said.He said High Courts were never meant to function merely as appellate or revisional courts or as stepping stones to the Supreme Court. Instead, they were designed to be vibrant constitutional courts where citizens could seek immediate and effective remedies.

 

 

“They realised that rights without remedies are hollow. When they sat to craft the Constitution of a free India, they resolved that never again would the citizen be left defenceless against the State,” he said.He described High Courts as the “true first constitutional court” for citizens.