CJI asks litigants not to "romance" with litigations

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra on Sunday urged the people not to remain obsessed with litigations and make effort to see if they can be solved otherwise.

"You are welcome to litigate. But do not romance with litigation," Misra, who is due to retire next month, said.

He, however, added that courts welcome people to litigate if they have genuine grievances.

"I do not suggest for a moment that you should not fight for a cause. But when the cause is small and can be solved otherwise, then solve it. Because that also serves the purpose of access to justice," Misra said.

Misra was speaking after laying the foundation stone of the permanent building of Odisha State Legal Services Authority (OSLSA) and inaugurating the legal assistance establishment Nyaya Sanjog in all the 30 districts of the state.

Misra also inaugurated the computerisation of 150 School Legal Literacy Clubs spread across the state.

Pursuant to the guidelines received from the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), the OSLSA is running legal literacy clubs in at least 746 high schools of the state.

Of them, five schools each from all 30 districts have now been equipped with one computer and internet facility and other necessary legal kits to spread legal literacy among the young minds.

Sometimes, school and college students can be extremely helpful in solving litigations, Misra said.

"We involve students to mediate, to talk to the litigants and even talk to the under-trial prisoners in getting benefits of Plea Bargaining as postulated in CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure)," Misra said, urging the students to become "legally literate".

Chief Justice of Orissa High Court Justice KS Jhaveri, Executive Chairman of OSLSA Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice Sanju Panda, chairperson of High Court Legal Services Committee also spoke on the occasion, which was attended among others by several sitting and former judges of the High Court and the Member Secretary of the OSLSA.