CJI Urges SCO Member States to Strive for Judicial Cooperation

• 13 Mar 2023

For Prelims: Chief Justice of India (CJI), Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), E-version of Supreme Court reports, Artificial intelligence, Shanghai Five, Overly Populated Prisons.

For Mains: Importance of Technology in Judiciary, SCO.

Why in News?

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) recently addressed the 18^th meeting of the Chief Justices/Chairpersons of the Supreme Courts of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states.

• The conference provided an opportunity for member and observer states to reflect upon the challenges that are common to their jurisdictions and emphasised the need for mutual cooperation and sharing of experiences and wisdom gathered.

What are the Major Highlights of the Meeting?

• Smart and Accessible Judiciary:
  • The CJI highlighted the need for judicial cooperation and adoption of new mechanisms to simplify and make the court processes more smart and accessible to the common people.
• Importance of Technology in Judiciary:
  • The CJI also stressed the importance of technology in bridging the gap between citizens and the justice system.
  • The CJI shared recent endeavours made by the Supreme Court of India, such as launching an e-version of Supreme Court reports, artificial intelligence-based live transcription of court proceedings, and translation of judgments in multiple regional languages, among others.
• Issues Highlighted:
  • Also, various issues such as the overly populated prisons, access to quality legal representation, modern public judicial services, court work overload, limited judicial resources, high pendency of cases, and the need for adequate infrastructure facilities were highlighted.

What is SCO?

• About:
  • The SCO is a regional intergovernmental organisation that promotes cooperation between its member states in the areas of security, economy, and culture.
• Genesis:
  • Prior to the creation of SCO in 2001, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan were members of the Shanghai Five.
    • Following the accession of Uzbekistan to the organisation in 2001, the Shanghai Five was renamed the SCO.
  • India and Pakistan became members in 2017.
  • Observer States: Iran and Belarus
    • Iran will be the newest member of the largest regional organisation- the SCO, when it joins the forum in April 2023 under the chairmanship of India.
• Structure:
  • Heads of State Council: The Supreme SCO body which decides its internal functioning and its interaction with other States & international organisations, and considers international issues.
  • Heads of Government Council: Approves the budget, considers and decides upon issues related to economic spheres of interaction within SCO.
  • Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs: Considers issues related to day-to-day activities.
  • Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS): Established to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism.
• Official language:
  • The official working language of the SCO Secretariat is Russian and Chinese.

Conclusion

The member states agreed on shared goals for the future of their judiciary and entrusted the presidency for the next meeting of Chief Justices/Chairmans to Uzbekistan on rotation for the year 2024.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Q.1 Consider the following: (2022)

1. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
2. Missile Technology Control Regime
3. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

India is a member of which of the above?

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Ans: (d)

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Mains

Q.1 Critically examine the Supreme Court’s judgement on ‘National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014’ with reference to the appointment of judges of higher judiciary in India. (2017)

Source: IE