Justice Surya Kant urges India’s High Courts to adopt emergency-level readiness to tackle rising cybercrime, digital evidence challenges, and climate-related disputes. He highlights the need for rapid response systems, advanced technology, and specialised judicial training.
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RANCHI: Supreme Court Justice and CJI-designate Surya Kant has called on India’s High Courts to adopt the preparedness, responsiveness and adaptability of modern hospital emergency wards to face rapidly evolving challenges such as cyber offences, digital evidence, climate-related disputes, and rising caseloads.
Speaking at the silver jubilee celebration of the Jharkhand High Court, Justice Surya Kant emphasised that the Indian judiciary is entering a period where traditional judicial models are no longer sufficient to meet the speed, complexity and scale of emerging forms of crime and conflict.
Justice Kant drew a parallel between hospital emergency wards and judicial institutions, stressing that High Courts require structures capable of responding swiftly and decisively to the moment a crisis arises.
“High Courts must begin to envision their institutional growth much like a modern hospital designs its emergency services — with structures equipped to respond swiftly, decisively and with precision at the very moment a crisis arises,”
he said.
He noted that courts will increasingly encounter disputes shaped by technology, environmental degradation, resource conflicts, and demographic shifts, making it crucial to strengthen judicial capacities.
Justice Kant highlighted how digital evidence, cybercrime, and technologically complex cases now dominate court dockets, demanding specialised judicial training and upgraded infrastructure.
Environmental issues such as resource conflicts, climate-linked disputes and scientific assessments will require deeper expertise and more nuanced judicial scrutiny in the years ahead, he added.
Despite technological advancements, the judge pointed out that India’s courts continue to face:
- Rising caseloads
- Unequal access to legal representation
- Procedural delays
- Limited technological adaptation
These long-standing challenges strain the justice delivery system and diminish its responsiveness to urgent matters.
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Justice Kant underscored the constitutional significance of High Courts, noting that they are closest to the lived experiences of citizens and often the first institutions where principles like due process and equality take concrete shape.
“The presence of a High Court in every State ensures that justice is truly local, immediate, and within reach,”
he said.
The judge asserted that the next decades will transform how courts handle evidence, technology, climate challenges, and urgent crises, making institutional preparedness a constitutional responsibility.
He called for:
- Improved court technology
- Streamlined procedures
- Specialised judicial training
- Foresight-driven institutional reform
Only with these changes, he said, can the judiciary deliver timely and effective remedies, keeping pace with the demands of a constitutional democracy.
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