Surya Kant, Chief Justice of India, on Saturday called the High Courts “primary sentinels” and said their future depends on their ability to act as “proactive courts” and urged them to “not just wait for a knock on the door but also… remain alert to systemic failures in the rule of law.”
The CJI also underlined the “power of interim measures” and said that “justice delayed is not just justice denied, but justice destroyed.”
The CJI spoke on the topic ‘The Sentinel in Qui Vive: Article 226 as Guardian of Access to Justice’ at the Fali Nariman Memorial Lecture. Article 226 of the Constitution grants powers to the High Courts to issue directions, including court orders, to any person, authority or government to enforce the fundamental rights of citizens.
“When the law is silent, the sentinel does not remain silent. We have seen High Courts issuing temporary directions to protect the environment, ensure dignity of prisoners and ensure the rights of migrant workers during national crises. This is the principle of gap filling – the idea that the court’s order must be executed wherever there is a gap in justice,” the CJI said.
“The High Court is the main sentinel, guarding the doors of the common man and ensuring that the rule of law is not a distant matter. Delhi“It is not a focused concept but a localized and breathing reality,” he added.
“Perhaps the most critical, yet overlooked, facet of access provided by Article 226 is the power of interim measures. For a small farmer whose land is being confiscated or for a student who is unjustly denied admission, delay in justice is not just justice denied; it is justice destroyed. The ability of the High Court to stay an executive action at the first hearing is often the only real ‘access’ that the citizen experiences,” the CJI said.
“The future of the High Court depends on its ability to act as a proactive court. The court must not only wait for a knock on the door… but must also remain alert to systemic failures in the rule of law… The aim must be to transform ‘access to justice’ from a passive right to an active service guaranteed by the State,” he added.
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The CJI also said that the High Courts “must preserve their powers and also evolve their practice”, the first frontier being the “digital gateway”. To ensure equality through technology in the daily operations of the courts, he urged the courts to stop considering virtual hearings as “emergency measures” and adopt them as a “permanent pillar of accessibility.”
“In an era when citizens’ rights are equally likely to be infringed by an automated system or by burgeoning technology, our courts must adapt accordingly… It is a well-known truism that the advancement of technology is further deepening the economic divide between the haves and the have-nots. Therefore, technology must be harnessed to ensure judicial equality,” the CJI said.
He said a tribal woman in Gadchiroli or a worker in a remote corner of the northeast should not have to travel far to seek justice and there should be “accessibility and affordability”. The CJI further stated that the gap between the rights of citizens and available remedies should be bridged through “procedural innovation”.
Citing Fali Nariman’s “unwavering commitment to constitutional morality” during the Emergency, the CJI said: “The declaration of the Emergency in 1975 tested the very soul of our democracy.”
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He also emphasized that the country’s “constitutional journey cannot be understood without first remembering the long shadows cast by colonial rule and the fact that for almost two centuries, our people lived under laws that were often instruments of control rather than guardians of freedom.”
“Civil liberties were not simply neglected; they were deliberately denied. The voice of the Indian citizen was silenced by ordinances, censorship, preventive detention and laws that prioritized imperial convenience over human dignity,” he said.
The suppression of freedoms through colonial legislation left an indelible lesson: freedom without the means to enforce it is fragile, and rights without remedies are empty, the CJI said.
Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court also congratulated the CJI on his appointment. Responding to appeals by Supreme Court Justice Dipankar Datta (former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court) and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, who were present at the event, the CJI said he would examine the issue of converting the Kolhapur Circuit Bench of the Bombay High Court into a permanent bench and communicate with the authorities concerned. “From the Supreme Court there will be constant support for their cause,” he said.