MUMBAI (TIP): Inaugurating the new Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) office complex here on July 4, Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud said that the judiciary and regulators have to ensure that protecting the economic and financial interests and delivering financial justice in a time-bound manner is as important as delivering social and political justice because financial and regulatory fairness are the bedrock of the economic progress of any nation and is also a key part of the rule of law.
“A legal system that has adequate safeguards, fairness, and dispenses justice without arbitrariness, is integral to building a country’s business and financial landscape and this is one of the main reasons why the Supreme Court recently constituted a five-judge bench to see whether an unstamped arbitration agreement can be relooked at the section 11 stage itself and that too within a month, because in the financial and business world, even a month is too long a period,” he added.
He further said that the judiciary must send out this message across that any aberration happened in the past should be corrected at the earliest and with the greatest speed so that can help establish a stable regulatory environment in the country.
Chandrachud, who holds his court in a fully paperless manner, said that virtual hearing is a matter of right for the petitioner and lawyers.
On this regard he specially commended the SAT for holding virtual hearings since the pandemic. Since SAT has only one bench and therefore has national jurisdiction, it is all more important that this appellate body allows the virtual participation of lawyers from across the country. This is all the more important as it has only a single bench.
Emphasising the importance of the rule of law, the chief justice said, “we often consider the idea of rule of law is social and political justice. Way back in 2005, the World Bank has theorized that protecting the rule of law is intrinsically linked to ensuring better economic outcomes and financial advancement.”
Coming to the soaring market which has scaled past the 80,000 mount yesterday, he said for Sebi and SAT this also brings to the fore of the importance of timely regulation. (ENS)