Thriving constitutional order based on institutional trust in courts: CJI

Institutional trust in courts and their credibility is the very basis of a thriving constitutional order, Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandcrachud said on Wednesday. The CJI was speaking at the Bhutan Distinguished Speakers' Forum, a part of the Jigme Singye Wangchuck Lecture Series, on the subject of 'Judicial Legitimacy through accessibility, transparency and technology: the Indian experience'. Dealing with the issue of public trust, the CJI said that courts do not directly hold resources as trustees of people. But as public functionaries, the courts are vested with the responsibility to give effect to equity, and judicial bodies are not directly in charge of the manner in which resources are distributed, he said. "However, it does fall upon us to adjudicate the fairness of that distribution, should it be questioned," the CJI said. "Yet the courts of the country do require public trust and legitimacy. Institutional trust in the constitutional and other courts of the country