President Droupadi Murmu, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice Surya Kant, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Bar Council of India Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra and others during the ‘Constitution Day’ celebration organized by the Supreme Court of India in Delhi. Photo: Rashtrapati Bhavan via PTI
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Wednesday (Nov 26, 2025) pushed for a uniform and national judicial policy that would enhance predictability of judicial access between the Supreme Court and state High Courts.
“It is high time we minimize the unpredictability and avoidable divergences that can arise simply because there are 25 High Courts or more Supreme Court Benches. Justice cannot resemble a set of instruments that, when played together, produce harmonious notes but discordant sounds. Instead, we must strive for a judicial symphony – one rhythm, expressed by many voices and languages, but led by the Supreme Court in its common constitutional court.
The CJI said the uniform judicial policy will promote coherence across jurisdictions and bring greater clarity and consistency in the decisions of various constitutional courts on fundamental legal issues.
Chief Justice Kant said a closer look at the functioning of the justice delivery system still shows a “disturbing gap” between the constitutional vision and the experience of a large number of people, especially marginalized sections of society, for whom access to justice is still difficult to access due to exorbitant costs, language, distance and delays.
“These barriers weaken the very overarching goal we seek to protect and thereby increase the existing inequalities… First step towards access to justice: The first step in this direction must be to expand the judicial infrastructure to help in effective administration of justice,” the CJI said.
The CJI highlighted the modern dispute resolution process of mediation as a cost-effective, participatory and profoundly humane alternative.
Published – 26 Nov 2025 21:53 IST
