Srinagar, July 27: There is no rights without knowledge, the Chief Justice of India Bra Gawai said on Sunday, emphasized the importance of making citizens aware of their rights.
Addressing the North Regional Regional Conference of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), CJI also said that there is a need to undo the disaster of the past and restore the old Kashmir where all the communities lived in harmony.
“Judges and lawyers must simultaneously ensure justice for the last citizen of the country. Nalasa works in this direction, and we try to take up the work of Nalasa in remote areas of the country – it is in Ladakh, Northeast or Rajasthan. As long as people have no knowledge of their rights, no use of rights,” CJI Gavai said.
In a clear context of the situation in Kashmir in the last 35 years, the CJI said that there have been aberves that need to be undone.
“There has been an uproar, but we have to work to remove them. This dialogue between judges and lawyers will give a new perspective. I am sure the program will help in the reconstruction of traditional Kashmir where all communities – Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs – lived together,” he said.
He said that Nalsa should continue his work to ensure that the last resident of the remote region of the country gets justice contained in the Constitution.
“Through the Constitution of the country, we have promised justice ourselves – political, social and economic. We are obliged to see that justice has been implemented in its real spirit. The legal fraternity requires a commitment to the real values of the Constitution,” he said.
CJI said that while Babasaheb Brandekar brought political justice through ‘one person, one vote’, the author of the Constitution talked about social compartmentalisation and the difficulty of moving from one compartment to another.
Recalling about his previous visits to Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, Chief Justice Gavai said that he had received a lot of love and affection from the people of two center areas.
“I think I have come to my hometown. I am grateful for all the love and affection shifted to me. I have gone to Jammu and Kashmir, and all parts of Ladakh. The tradition of Sufism here promotes secularism in the Constitution of India.
On the issues raised by the representatives of the bar from Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu, Chief Justice Gavai said that while he did not have the right to address them, he would tell the same to the concerned officials including the collegium.