Justice Madan Lokur, an eminent former judge of the Supreme Court of India, delivered the Pune International Centre’s 12th Foundation Day Lecture on the evening of 24th September.
He spoke on the topic, ‘Rise and Shine: Judiciary and Transforming Justice Delivery.’ The event was chaired by PIC President Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar, and the closing remarks were presented by Dr. Vijay Kelkar, Vice President, PIC. Mr. Abhay Vaidya, Director, PIC welcomed the guests.
Justice Lokur delivered a deeply thought-provoking address and urged the judiciary to ‘rise and shine,’ assert its independence and restore its past glory. He said the judiciary “has dug itself in a hole, but it can come out of it”.
Post emergency, public interest litigation, access to justice, and initiatives such as Lok Adalat had helped regain the honour of the top court, to the extent that it began to be called as “the people’s court” and “the most powerful court in the world.” This was a matter of pride for all.
Today’s challenges were different from those of the past, with huge pendency of cases, unfilled vacancies, delay in appointment of judges, and a large number of constitutional cases lying in cold storage.
Justice Lokur stressed that the judiciary must introspect and bring about a systemic change, undertake transformation, and regain its turf. He appreciated the efforts being made by the Supreme Court to move in the right direction.
A brief Q&A session followed the lecture, with a lively interaction between Justice Lokur and the audience.
Dr. Vijay Kelkar thanked the eminent jurist for his inspiring exposition and presented him with PIC’s book, ‘ising to the China Challenge. Ms. Riya Gandhi presented the vote of thanks.
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