Legal aid not merely act of charity but moral duty: CJI Gavai

Chief Justice of India BR Gavai on Sunday, November 9, 2025, said that legal aid is not just an act of charity but also a moral duty and those involved in the legal aid movement must approach their role with an administrative imagination to ensure that the rule of law extends to every corner of the country.

Speaking in his valedictory address at the national conference on ‘Strengthening Legal Aid Delivery Mechanisms’ and celebration of ‘Legal Services Day’, CJI Gavai suggested formation of an advisory committee comprising current executive chairmen and two or three future executive chairmen at NALSA and SLSAs respectively to ensure continuity in policy planning.

“At the same time, those involved in the legal aid movement, whether civil servants, administrators or volunteers, need to approach their roles with an administrative imagination. Legal aid is not only an act of charity but also a moral duty. It is an exercise in governance that ensures the spread of the rule of law to every corner of our country,” he said.

The CJI also said that they should think like justice administrators who plan, coordinate and innovate to ensure that every rupee spent, every visit made and every intervention undertaken truly brings joy to someone in need.

Mr. Gavai stated that legal services officials should conceptualize and execute their work with a long-term corporate vision. He noted that currently priorities are mostly determined by the tenure of individual chief executive officers, each of whom has a limited time frame to implement initiatives.

In a program organized to celebrate the 30th anniversary of NALSA (National Legal Services Authority), he said that this brings diversity of ideas but also makes continuity and sustainable implementation difficult.

“To address this, I propose to constitute an advisory committee comprising current executive heads and two or three future or incoming executive heads at NALSA and SLSAs respectively. This committee may meet quarterly or semi-annually to discuss and supervise projects with a long-term perspective,” CJI candidate Surya Kant said at the programme, which was also attended by Justice Vikram Nath and other high court and high court judges.

CJI Gavai, who will leave office on November 23, said that when he was the executive chairman of NALSA, his colleagues Justice Surya Kant and Justice Vikram Nath worked together and traveled together in different parts of the country.

“Such an arrangement will help institutionalize vision-based planning and ensure that key programmes, whether related to access to justice, awareness or digital transformation, are consistently advanced regardless of administrative changes. It will also promote a collaborative culture among legal services authorities, allowing for collective decision-making and shared accountability,” he said.

He added that although the people running these institutions have changed, the constitutional duty to ensure justice for every citizen has not. The CJI emphasized that a sustainable, coordinated and forward-looking approach is required to strengthen both the reach and resilience of the legal aid movement.

He added: “Before I leave my post in two weeks, I would like to leave a message to all judicial officers who deputize for legal services authorities. Judicial training often teaches us to maintain a certain distance, weigh the evidence impartially and make reasoned decisions. But legal aid work requires the opposite sensitivity: it requires empathy, cooperation and the ability to see beyond the procedure of the conditions that produce injustice.”

“When serving in legal service institutions, our role is not to judge, but to connect, coordinate with officials in government agencies, build partnerships with nonprofits, and reach out to citizens with compassion and openness,” he said.

The CJI stated that wherever he went, he found government officials to be very cooperative in promoting legal aid and ensuring that the benefits of the government scheme reached those in need.

Calling for volunteers and legal aid consultants to be treated with dignity and respect, CJI Gavai said the sustainability and success of the legal aid movement depends on these dedicated individuals.

“In conclusion, I would like to say that the last thirty years have shown that when compassion meets commitment and the law meets human experience, real transformation is possible. But this journey is far from complete. Every citizen who still feels unheard or unrepresented reminds us of the distance we have to go.” Therefore, he added, the task is not just to maintain what has been built, but to foresee that more can be done.

The CJI called for deepening cooperation between the judiciary, executive and civil society, leveraging technology without losing the human touch, and measuring progress not just in numbers but also in terms of the dignity of those served.

“The legal aid movement stands as one of the finest expressions of the spirit of our Constitution, a bridge between the letter of the law and the lived realities of people,” he said.

It was published – 10 November 2025 06:52 IST