General
New Delhi: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai on Sunday called for a structural overhaul of the legal services authorities in the country, proposing that these bodies should be guided by advisory committees comprising future CJIs — executive chairpersons of these bodies — to ensure continuity of purpose and sustained implementation of long-term reforms.
Speaking at the valedictory session of the National Conference on “Strengthening Legal Aid Delivery Mechanisms” in New Delhi, the CJI noted that while the National Legal services Authority (NALSA) and state legal services authorities have expanded their footprint over the decades, their work often gets shaped by the tenure and priorities of individual executive chairpersons, making consistency difficult to achieve.
“While this brings diversity of ideas, it also makes continuity and sustained implementation a challenge. To address this, I suggest the creation of an Advisory Committee at NALSA and SLSAs respectively, comprising the current executive chairpersons and two or three future or incoming executive chairpersons. This committee could meet quarterly or every six months to discuss and oversee projects with a long-term perspective.”
The proposal is notable, given that while the CJI serves as the patron-in-chief of NALSA, the incoming CJI becomes its executive chairperson– a position currently held by Justice Surya Kant, who is set to assume the office of the CJI on November 24.
CJI Gavai underlined that institutional memory, collaborative decision-making and continuity in programme execution were essential for the legal aid network to function as a stable welfare system rather than a set of isolated initiatives tied to individuals.
“Such an arrangement would help institutionalise vision-based planning and ensure that key programmes, whether related to access to justice, awareness, or digital transformation, are carried forward consistently, regardless of administrative changes. It would also promote a collaborative culture among legal services authorities, allowing for collective decision-making and shared accountability. After all, while the individuals steering the institutions may change, our constitutional mandate to secure justice for every citizen remains constant.” he said.
A sustained, coordinated, and forward-looking approach, Justice Gavai said, will therefore be essential to strengthen both the reach and resilience of the legal aid movement.
The CJI also pressed for a system of periodic and independent review of legal aid interventions, stressing that the success of legal services must be measured not in terms of how many have been reached, but whether their lives have meaningfully improved.
“Progress is never measured merely by intentions or initiatives, but by our ability to assess their impact in people’s lives,” he said. The legal aid system, he argued, must embrace structured social audits in collaboration with academic institutions, research bodies, and civil society organisations to evaluate outcomes, encourage accountability and ensure course correction.
“When we think of legal services, we must think of them much like any welfare programme of the State, requiring evaluation, feedback, and reform based on evidence and lived realities,” he added.
Recounting his visits to remote and conflict-affected areas during his tenure as executive chairperson of NALSA, the CJI emphasized that the work of legal aid demands sensitivity and empathy, not merely procedural knowledge. Officers and volunteers must engage with communities, coordinators and district officials as “partners in delivering justice”, he said, while calling for timely and dignified remuneration, structured capacity-building and psychological support for paralegal volunteers, legal defence counsel and panel lawyers who serve as the backbone of the legal aid movement.
“Legal aid is not an act of charity but a moral duty. Its success depends on the commitment, training and well-being of those who stand on the frontlines,” he said.