Hailing the Constitution as a “living stream”, Prime Minister Narendra  Modi on Tuesday said the sentiment of ‘nation first’ will keep the Constitution alive for centuries to come. Recalling the words of President Rajendra Prasad in his concluding address to the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949, PM Modi said he had stated that India does not need anything more than a group of honest people who will keep the country’s interests above their own.

Addressing an event marking Constitution Day celebrations at the Supreme Court, Modi the Constitution has now been fully implemented in Jammu and Kashmir and Constitution Day was celebrated there for the first time there.  “Our Constitution makers knew that India’s aspirations, India’s dreams will reach new heights with time. They knew that the needs of Independent India and its citizens will change, challenges will change. That is why they did not leave our Constitution as just a mere book of laws. Rather, they made it a living, continuously flowing stream,” Modi said, adding that the Constitution is acting as a “guiding light” at a time when India is going through a period of transformation.

“Today every citizen of the country has only one goal, to build a developed India,” he said at the event which was attended by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Supreme Court Bar Association of India President Kapil Sibal, among others. India is going through a period of transformation and at such an important time, it is the Constitution of India that is “showing us the way and is a guiding light for us”, PM Modi said.

Asserting that Indians should get speedy justice, PM Modi said that for this a new judicial code has been implemented. “The punishment-based system has now changed to a justice-based system,” he said. Speaking in a lighter vein while concluding his address, PM Modi said, “I have tried to keep within the boundaries of the job designated to me by the Constitution. I have not tried any encroachment. I have tried to put forward my views within the boundaries. Only a hint is enough here, there is no need to say much.”

Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna elaborated concerns in the judiciary, including backlog of cases, delays, costs of litigation, access to justice, and trust deficit in the system. He elaborated on some of these issues while highlighting efforts to address them. He highlighted the backlog of cheque-bouncing cases, which constitute nine per cent of pending cases in trial courts. He also highlighted the limited success of plea bargaining, compounding, and probation, as an area requiring legislative intervention.

“The backlog of check bouncing cases in our district courts have reached an alarming proportion - nearly nine per cent of the cases pending in the trial court. Data also reveals plea bargaining has been a non-starter. Compounding and probation have not gained acceptance. Perhaps these require legislative interference,” CJI Khanna said.

The CJI also drew attention to the disparity between the judicial workforce and the prison population. With approximately 20,000 judges at the district level and 750 High Court judges, the judiciary handles a prison population of 5.23 lakh. Despite this disparity, data reflects efficient case handling, he said.

Attorney General R Venkataramani said restrictions that stifled or discriminated against the rights and liberties of people were an anathema to an “enduring” Constitution. “We the people of India have a duty to ensure that the Constitution endures, and only an enduring Constitution, can script ordered liberty,” Venkataramani said. “(The concept of) both rights and liberties running riot or restrictions (on rights and liberties), which stifle or discriminate are anathema to an enduring constitution,” he added.

Underlining that Constitution Day was a day for stocktaking and an occasion for engagement on future road maps, Venkataramani said all citizens “being custodians of the great and perennial values of Bharat”  were also custodians of the Constitution. “The question, however, would always be, how faithful are we in our roles as custodians? How accommodative are we in bridging and narrowing the social gaps which require and deserve elevated levels of resolutions? How inclined are we to astutely avoid wasteful and distorting social conversations which can debilitate our social fabric?” he said.