Dimensions of Access to Justice

The phrase ‘access to justice’ evokes in our minds the concept that everyone seeking justice must be endowed with the necessary funds to approach a court of law. However, this is not the sole interpretation of these words. They also discuss the nature of various rights, the number of courts, the quality of justice, the freedom of the judges who preside over the courts, legal aid, and public interest litigation, among other things. The notions of “access to justice” and “rule of law” were born in England during Henry II’s reign in the Twelfth Century. Access to justice is a dynamic subject; with rapid advances in science and technology, the judicial system should be on par, if not ahead of its time. I would advocate that a constitutional body comprised of officials and luminaries from the legal field, as well as experts from NITI Aayog, be formed by an amalgamation of both to radically change the Codes of Civil Procedure and Criminal Procedure to create a state-of-the-art justice delivery system that caters to all groups in society without discrimination. On 26th July 2021, a delegation of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of bar associations from five southern states, visited Vice president M. Venkaiah Naidu and Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana. It gave a representation for the supreme court bench in south India. This proposal has a high potential to improve the current delay and accessibility of the justice delivery system.