Access to justice for common person is hampered by cost, delays: CJI Surya Kant

Calling delay and rising litigation costs the biggest obstacles to justice delivery in India, Chief Justice Surya Kant on Sunday said the true test of the judicial system lies not in legal theory but in the lived experience of ordinary citizens struggling to access courts.

Delivering the keynote address at a symposium organised by the Orissa High Court Bar Association on “Ensuring justice for the common man: Strategies for reducing litigation costs and delays,” the chief justice said justice becomes meaningful only when it is predictable, accessible and humane.

Referring to his early years as a practising lawyer, he recalled seeing an elderly farmer waiting outside a courtroom late into the afternoon with his case listed far down the board. “For him, delay was not a docket statistic. It