Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday addressed the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Supreme Court of India on January 28 at 12 noon at the Supreme Court auditorium. He said that India's priority is to provide 'ease of justice' to its citizens and the Supreme Court acts as the primary channel for this.
PM Modi also announced that the Centre has approved a sum of Rs.800 crores for expansion of the court's complex, the PTI reported. Taking a jibe at petitioners who reached the top court against the construction of Central Vista, the PM said hope no one would file a petition against this.
"I am also conscious of the difficulties being faced by you all in the present Supreme Court building...last week itself, the government has approved a sum of Rs.800 crores to be utilised for expansion of the Supreme Court Building Complex", said the PM.
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PM Modi said that Indian citizens have a right to "ease of justice". He further added that the entire country's justice system is dependent on Supreme Court.
PM Modi also said that he is happy that the CJI DY Chandrachud is looking into the digitisation efforts of the courts personally.
PM Modi while addressing a gathering at the top court said that "today the eyes of the whole world are on India and the world's trust in India is increasing. It is important for India to take advantage of every opportunity...Indian citizens are entitled to easy access to justice. And the Supreme Court acts as the primary channel for this. The entire judicial system depends on the direction given by the Supreme Court...For the third phase of the e-Court Mission, an amount four times larger than the second phase has been sanctioned."
PM Modi also launched the new website of the Supreme Court that will be in bilingual format in English and Hindi and has been redesigned with a user-friendly interface.
In his address, PM Modi also said that it is a matter of pride that this year, for the first time a retired SC judge who was also the first Muslim female judge in the entire Asia, Justice Fathima Beevi was honoured with Padma Bhushan.
#WATCH | PM Narendra Modi says, "...The Padma Awards given this time. In that, retired Supreme Court judge and the first Muslim female Supreme Court judge of entire Asia, Justice Fathima Beevi was honoured with Padma Bhushan. This is a matter of pride for me..." pic.twitter.com/x36sxd2B3Z
As the apex court completes seventy-fifth years, the PM also launched citizen-centric information and technology initiatives that include Digital Supreme Court Reports (Digi SCR), Digital Courts 2.0 and new website of the Supreme Court.
The Digital Supreme Court Reports (SCR) will make judgments by the top court available to the citizens of the country free of cost and in electronic format.