NEW DELHI. Technological enhancement to boost efficiency of the judicial system and bring justice within reach of each and every citizen figured predominantly during the two-day meeting of the Chief Justices and Chairpersons of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states that concluded in New Delhi on March 11.
India was represented by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, who also moderated the event. He stressed the need for SCO members to come together in tackling challenges common to the judiciary in their countries, and making judicial systems more approachable to themasses. The meeting strived for bringing about effective judicial cooperation through shared wisdom and experience.
“The intention to strengthen and expand cooperation among the Supreme Courts of the SCO member states and to promote the use of technology to enhance the efficiency of the judicial system and Access to Justice were deliberated upon during the course of the meeting,” the Supreme Court of India said in a statement.
In his closing address, the CJI stressed upon the need to collectively adopt new mechanisms to make court processes simpler and more accessible.
The SCO member states include China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India assumed the rotational presidency of the SCO for a year in September 2022 through the Samarkand declaration. All SCO member states, two observer states (Iran and Belarus), SCO Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) and SCO Secretariat attended the conference, barring the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which connected through videoconference.
The discussions highlighted several challenges facing the judicial systems in the SCO nations as the conference reflected upon the challenges common to their jurisdictions. Uzbekistan was entrusted with the rotational presidency for the next year’s meeting.
