'Mooting Unified Judicial Policy': CJI Says Cases Involving Personal Liberty Must Get Priority

At a time when the Indian judicial system fights a mammoth backlog of cases with more than 5 crore cases pending, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has said the priority will be to ensure cases concerning personal liberty receive urgent and prioritised attention.At the same time, commercial and economic disputes need to be resolved predictably to foster confidence, investment, and orderly growth; and family, consumer, and social justice matters require to be addressed with empathy, timeliness, and sensitivity, recognising their deep human impact, the CJI emphasised.Speaking on ‘Advancing rule of law through technology: challenges & Opportunities’ at the West Zone Regional Conference at Jaisalmer, the Chief Justice said, “Indian courts deal with an extraordinary

volume of cases, yet within that volume lie matters whose consequences are immediate and profound. A judicial system aligned with constitutional values must therefore ensure that cases concerning personal liberty receive urgent and prioritised attention; that commercial and economic disputes are resolved predictably to foster confidence, investment and orderly growth; and that family, consumer and social justice matters are addressed with empathy, timeliness and sensitivity, recognising their deep human impact.”

Unified Judicial Policy

The CJI said technology is no longer merely an administrative convenience. It has evolved into a constitutional instrument that strengthens equality before the law, expands access to justice, and enhances institutional efficiency. “It allows the judiciary to transcend physical barriers and bureaucratic rigidities to deliver outcomes that are timely, transparent, and principled”. He said it is in this context that the idea of a Unified Judicial Policy acquires meaning. For decades, judicial functioning has reflected India’s vast diversity, but also its fragmentation. “Different High Courts evolved their own practices, administrative priorities, and technological capacities, resulting in uneven experiences for litigants across the country. This variation is neither a criticism nor a surprise — it is the natural consequence of a plural and federal democracy,” he said.“Today, as technology reduces geographical barriers and enables convergence, it invites us to think of justice not as regional systems operating in parallel, but as one national ecosystem with shared standards, seamless interfaces, and coordinated goals. I have often emphasised the need for a Unified Judicial Policy, and technology is the engine that will drive such convergence. This unified approach calls for harmonising our procedural norms across jurisdictions, creating a shared digital architecture, ensuring a principled prioritisation of cases, developing coherent formats for judgments, enhancing clarity in judicial language, and enabling the intelligent grouping of matters that raise similar questions of law,” the CJI added. CJI Surya Kant said Unified Judicial Policy is not merely administrative doctrine; it is the architecture of constitutional confidence. It strengthens the idea that our courts are not isolated entities but parts of one Republic, driven by common values, delivering coherent justice.