New Delhi: The President on Tuesday appointed Justice Konakuppakattil Gopinathan Balakrishnan, seniormost judge of the Supreme Court, the 37th Chief Justice of India with effect from January 14. He is the first person from a Scheduled Caste to occupy the highest position in the judiciary.

Talking to The Hindu soon after the Centre issued the notification, he said: "I am confident that with the help of my colleagues [on the Bench] and with the cooperation of lawyers I can do some more service to the people and the country."

Evening courts

His immediate priority would be to reduce the pendency of cases in the High Courts and subordinate courts by setting up evening courts, increasing the strength of judges and speeding up the appointment of judicial officers. The Centre should give financial assistance to the States for creating additional courts, particularly to deal with cases under the Negotiable Instruments Act (cheque bounce cases under Section 138) as the exercise involved financial expenditure for the State governments, he said.

On the Alternative Disputes Resolution System, Mr. Justice Balakrishnan said it was working well in foreign countries, where the cost of litigation was very high, but it would not be easy to have it in India.

"No parallel parliament"

Denying the charge of judicial activism, he said courts gave directions only to protect the interests and fundamental rights of the people. In many matters when the public made a serious complaint, the court gave a direction and sometimes appealed to the Parliament to enact legislation. "It is not that we are having a parallel parliament or that the courts are encroaching on the domain of Parliament." To help the people and protect their rights courts might pass some orders, which the Government might think had a tinge of legislative character.

On the Chief Justice of India being kept out of the Judges Inquiry Bill, recently introduced in Parliament, he said that internationally the Indian judiciary was being held in high esteem. If a CJI came under scrutiny, the image of the judiciary could suffer.

`Enough transparency'

The present system of appointment of judges was working well and there was enough transparency.

He pointed out that even in the United States the Right to Information law would not apply to the Supreme Court.

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