CJI-designate Surya Kant lists his top priorities: ‘Pendency of cases’ and promoting ‘mediation’

CHief justness of republic of india (CJI)-designate justness Surya immanuel kant, who testament take the oath of office on Monday, has revealed that among his top priorities would be dealing with pending cases in the judiciary and encouraging mediation as the alternative way of dispute resolution. Notably, outgoing CJI BR Gavai is set to step down from the post on Sunday.Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Justice Kant said that the Supreme Court itself has around 90,000 pending cases and it would be his “first and foremost challenge” to tackle them.Set to take the oath of office on November 24, Justice Kant was appointed as the 53rd Chief Justice of India on October 30 by President Droupadi Murmu.Incoming CJI lists top priorities“My first and foremost challenge is arrears of cases. Today's scoreboard shows that the Supreme Court arrears crossed 90,000. I am not going into how it happened, who is responsible... Maybe listing (of cases) has gone up,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.He also said that as the CJI, he would seek reports from high courts regarding their pendency of cases as well as from trial courts across the country.His second priority, he said, would be to offer mediation as a method of dispute resolution."Now the second issue is mediation. This is one of the easiest ways of dispute (re)solution and it can really be the game changer," he said.But how will pendency of cases be reduced?When asked about ways to bring down the number of pending cases, the incoming CJI mentioned a group of Delhi land acquisition matters and said that with one judgement of his, about 1,200 cases were settled.He added that the high courts will also be asked about the pending matters that need to be decided by larger constitution benches of the top court.He said many cases remain pending in high courts since decisions are still due in related matters involving larger legal and constitutional questions in the apex court, and larger benches have to be formed for those.CJI-designate on online trolling of judgesRegarding the online trolling of judges and court judgements, he said that once someone becomes a judge of the Supreme Court or takes charge as the CJI, comments on social media should not trouble them."Frankly speaking, I call social media 'unsocial media' and I do not feel pressured by online comments...," he said, adding that during his tenure as a high court and Supreme Court judge, he was never perturbed by these.Fair criticism of judges and judgements is always acceptable, he said.Incoming CJI on Delhi pollutionWhen asked about the deteriorating air quality levels in Delhi-NCR, he said that he still goes for a morning walk.“Despite any weather conditions or anything, I normally go for my walk and average 50 minutes to one hour I walk…”Justice Surya Kant’s tenureThe CJI-designate will serve for 15 months before leaving office on February 9, 2027, when he turns 65.With inputs from agencies