President: Covid’s compulsions have helped find creative ways to fulfil access to justice

New Delhi, Nov 26 : President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said he was happy see the Supreme Court work continuously amid the pandemic and this compulsion induced by Covid-19 has helped in finding more creative ways to fulfil the task of access to justice.
The Supreme Court has been taking up matters through video conferencing since the beginning of the lockdown, which was imposed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kovind, who participated virtually in the Constitution Day celebrations organised by Supreme Court, said: “Our constitution is said to be the lengthiest document of its time. It is elegantly captured in the Preamble, which captures the core values of the freedom struggle and the vision of our founding fathers. It (Preamble) is the heart of the Constitution.” He added that the Preamble in 85 words spells out core values and the vision of the founding fathers and the aspiration of every Indian. Kovind emphasised that the principles of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity are not to be understood separately, and the Preamble speaks of resolution for all and that the notion of justice implies access to justice.
The Constitution Day celebrations – held virtually — were also attended by law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Chief Justice S. A. Bobde, Justice N. V. Ramana, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, Justice R. F. Nariman and senior advocate Dushyant Dave, president Supreme Court Bar Association.
The Chief Justice said, “We have fared way better than many countries amid the pandemic. We have disposed of 100s and 1000s of cases while other countries have only been quoting single-digit disposal rates. 14,849 (cases were disposed of) by the Supreme Court, 1.5 lakh cases by High Courts, 4.5 lakh cases by subordinate courts since lockdown measures taken.”