Justice BR Gavai is set to take oath as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI) on May 14. He will be the first Buddhist CJI and the second Dalit CJI.."I have always advocated social and economic justice," he said in an interview with Bar & Bench, a day before he took oath as the CJI.In this conversation with Bar & Bench's Pallavi Saluja, the CJI-designate also talks about his top priorities as CJI, delay and transparency in judicial appointments, corruption in the judiciary, and more..Top priorities as CJI.Justice Gavai said that one of his foremost focus areas as CJI is how to tackle case pendency across courts in India."I have decided that I would like to work on the pendency of cases, right from the bottom level to the Supreme Court. Also, I would like to focus on infrastructure - so far as High Courts are concerned, the infrastructure is very good. However, it is still a big problem for lower courts," he said.On the changes he can realistically bring about during his relatively short tenure of six months, Justice Gavai added,"I don't want to make any promises in the beginning. I've seen so many people speaking of so many things in the beginning, and at the end, they don't accomplish 50 per cent of that.".I've seen so many people speaking of so many things in the beginning, and at the end, they don't accomplish 50 per cent of that.Justice BR Gavai.Listing issues in Supreme Court.Justice Gavai noted that case pendency is tied to the way in which cases are listed before courts. As such, he said he would examine ways to make case listing more effective."Immediately after taking the oath, I will have wide-ranging discussions with all my colleagues, try first to find out what the emerging problems are and then also address them…Listing is a problem - bifurcation of days into miscellaneous and regular days. Now, we have two days for non-miscellaneous days and one day for regular matters. That increases the pendency of regular matters."The CJI-designate added,"I will try to find some workable solutions for the pendency of matters. Of course, classification, categorisation, and clubbing of matters need to be done. I want to take up some three-judge bench matters and constitutional matters that will affect a large number of matters. Specially, if it can lead to the dismissal of thousands of cases and help with the reduction of pendency.".Credibility of the Judiciary.In light of the recent corruption allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma, the image of the judiciary has taken a significant hit. Speaking on this issue, Justice Gavai said, "The judiciary's credibility has to be maintained. You will find black sheep everywhere. Here, if you consider the percentage of such judges (we have about 900 judges), we are talking about very few, a negligible number. However, that number also cannot be tolerated because people go to court as a last resort. They have a lot of faith in us...When a person is appointed as a judge, he will be very honest - but that may change subsequently.".You will find black sheep everywhere, we are talking about very few. However, that number also cannot be tolerated.Justice BR Gavai on corruption in the judiciary.Outgoing CJI Sanjiv Khanna recently forwarded the report of the in-house committee constituted to probe the allegations of cash discovery at Justice Yashwant Varma's residence to the President of India and the Prime Minister. The report submitted by the in-house committee had indicted Justice Varma.However, it has not been made public, prompting concerns over transparency.On being asked if he would make the report public, Justice Gavai said he would follow the Memorandum of Procedure and would not go beyond that..Pending judicial appointments.The Central government has been dragging its feet over processing some of the judicial appointments recommended by the Collegium. In the recent past, the Centre has also been pulled up by the Supreme Court over such delays.Justice Gavai has indicated that he will try to work with the government to get these appointments cleared at the earliest."We'll try to work with the executive, we'll try to address their issues and whatever issues we have with their recommendations. We will certainly address this issue through dialogue, because ultimately, the number of vacancies also has a direct relation to the pending cases," he said. .Transparency in judicial appointments.Recently, the Supreme Court put out the complete process followed in appointing High Court and Supreme Court judges, as well as data on the relations of prospective judges with sitting or retired judges.The move aimed to introduce more transparency in the appointment of judges and address concerns that the kin of existing judges get an unfair advantage when it comes to judicial appointments..If an IAS officer’s son can be an IAS officer, a politician’s son can continue in politics, then why not here?Justice BR Gavai.Commenting about such concerns, Justice Gavai observed that the focus should be on ensuring that merit is not overshadowed by nepotism in the judiciary. "If an IAS officer’s son can be an IAS officer, a politician’s son can continue in politics, then why not here? There should not be any compromise in terms of merit. If somebody has been promoted only because he is a kith and kin of somebody, then that will be objectionable. But if somebody is really good, you can't disqualify them just because they are related to someone," he said. Currently, the Supreme Court Collegium interacts with candidates before deciding on their suitability for appointment as judges. He revealed that he is in favour of continuing this practice."Thanks to Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who started the interaction procedure with candidates. I am sure that this process of interaction with candidates should continue. This enables us to find out more about the candidates. Now, we have been in a position to find out at least some persons that the Collegium has recommended, but are found not to be up to the mark, lacking in some basic knowledge of laws. Some of the High Courts have also started interacting with the candidates. We have inputs from the High Court Collegium. We also have inputs from the IB, from the government. If, after such scrutiny, somebody who is not deserving comes out, you can't help them," he said. .On the need for diversity in appointment of judges.Justice Gavai has acknowledged that his elevation to the Supreme Court was accelerated to ensure Dalit representation. Responding to a question on how important it is for the judiciary to represent diverse sections of society, Justice Gavai added, "The diversity does help, because people coming from different sections know what the problems are in those sections. While adjudicating, those inputs are very important. Gone are the days when judges used to sit in ivory towers and decide. Ultimately, when you sit as a judge, you also decide on social issues."The Supreme Court Collegium has also been requesting High Court Collegiums to recommend more candidates from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and minorities, including women candidates, Justice Gavai said."In fact, in some of the High Courts, where the women candidates are not available, we're also requesting them to consider the names of the women lawyers who are practicing in the Supreme Court who are from the State where the appointment is to be made.".On allegations of overreach by Supreme Court.In the recent past, the Supreme Court has been accused of stepping into the executive domain, more so after its judgment in the Tamil Nadu Governor case, and following observations made in the Waqf Amendment Act case. On being asked about his views on this issue, Justice Gavai said that a judge should only focus on deciding cases according to their conscience, regardless of what others say. "I personally say that a judge’s judgment should not be affected by what the criticism is. A judge is supposed to decide on the basis of the papers before him, on the basis of law that is linked…One has to decide according to his own conscience.".On social media trolling the judiciary.I don't look at social media.Justice BR Gavai.Justice Gavai recounted that he too was at the receiving end of public criticism after he was part of a Bench that upheld the power of States to sub-classify reserved category groups (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) into different groups based on their inter se backwardness, for extending reservation benefits."My judgment on sub-classification also brought a lot of criticism. I also come from Scheduled Caste, but why should my children take up the share of someone more deserving from a village? Ultimately, it's the Constitution that is supreme. After the Kesavananda Bharti judgment, the position is very clear - you can't tinker with the basic structure of the Constitution," Justice Gavai opined. .I also come from Scheduled Caste, but why should my children take up the share of someone more deserving from a village?Justice BR Gavai.Justice Gavai added that he is not bothered by trolling on social media. "I don't look at social media. I'm neither on Instagram nor on X. As long as your conscience says that you are right, you should not be bothered about what one criticises. Everybody has a right to criticize and a fair criticism of the judgment is always welcome," he said. .Artificial Intelligence in court work.Former CJI DY Chandrachud had taken the initiative to incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) and technology to ease work at the Supreme Court. Will the Supreme Court continue to invest time and energy in this space to make improvements to online hearings?"We are going to continue with it," Justice Gavai said."We have a competent technical officer who is from National Informatics Centre (NIC) and is currently on deputation with the Supreme Court. He is working on new things that will be brought on. I will also be spending time on this during the court vacation.".Post-retirement jobs.Justice Gavai says that he has no intention of accepting any post-retirement appointment after he retires from the Supreme Court. "I will not accept any post-retirement jobs. I will not accept any office which is before the office of CJI," he said.
