Judicial infrastructure key to timely trials: CJI

Utkarsh Anand and Debabrata Mohanty

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Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Sunday underlined that the constitutional promise of a timely trial is inseparably linked to the availability of adequate judicial infrastructure, warning that even the most sincere and well-intentioned justice delivery system will “collapse under logistical strain” if courts are too few and facilities too frail.

Delivering the keynote address at a symposium organised by the High Court Bar Association of Orissa, the CJI said that laws may be enacted, offences registered and even personal liberty curtailed, but citizens are ultimately left waiting for “the one thing that completes the promise of justice —a timely trial that the infrastructure is simply too frail to deliver”.

Justice Kant stressed that judicial infrastructure must be viewed not as government expenditure but as a long-term investment in the Republic. “Courtrooms, staff, technology, and basic facilities are not luxuries; they are the skeleton of justice itself. When we strengthen them, we strengthen the Republic,” he said.

Pointing to successful examples already within the system, the CJI said specialised courts in family, commercial and criminal law had demonstrated that when dockets are intelligently structured, outcomes improve without compromising quality.