Considerable emphasis put on developing Swadeshi jurisprudence: CJI Surya Kant

Observing that the Supreme Court has consciously approached technology as an aid to human judgment rather than a substitute for independent legal thought, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said great emphasis was being placed on developing “Swadeshi jurisprudence”.

Delivering a conference on “Constitutional Promise to Digital Reality: Preservation of Justice in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Technological Progress” at the Oxford Union and Oxford Law Society, the CJI said that in addition to ongoing technological initiatives, serious efforts are continuing to create a domestic artificial intelligence ecosystem for the judiciary.

“The Supreme Court of India has consciously approached technology as an aid to human judgment and not as a substitute for independent judicial thought. However, significant emphasis has been placed on the development of what can be described as distinctly Indian or ‘Swadeshi jurisprudence’: a jurisprudence that is attentive to our own constitutional values, institutional realities, linguistic diversity and social conditions rather than relying solely on imported technological models or assumptions,” the CJI said.

He said technology contributes something beyond the constitutional promise of access to justice.

“In many ways this has brought judicial systems around the world into much closer communication with each other, strengthening what can now fairly be described as an increasingly interconnected global judicial community,” he said.

The CJI said young lawyers, judicial officers and legal professionals are an encouraging resource for technological transformation of the judiciary.

He also emphasized that technology will never replace human judgment.

“I use this word, the legal youth in India are very adaptable, whether they are district court judicial officers, government lawyers or even those who assist corporate entities as legal advisors. All these young minds are so adaptable and so quick to adopt this that they have really been an encouraging source for the Indian judiciary to bring in all these ameliorative changes,” the CJI said.

He said the artificial intelligence system can process enormous amounts of legal text with astonishing speed.

“He can map procedural trends and eliminate administrative checkpoints with clinical precision, but he remains completely blind to the qualities like empathy, ethical understanding and deep contextual understanding that animate the spirit of law,” the CJI said.

Lawyer Tanvi Dubey made the opening speech.