My job satisfaction is 5 per cent – Justice Thakur at the Asia Pacific International Mediation Summit

Supreme Court judge Justice TS Thakur inaugurated the Asia Pacific International Mediation Summit at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi yesterday. The Summit is being organised by the American Bar Association from February 12 – 15..Supreme Court judges Justice JS Khehar, Justice Madan B Lokur, Justice AK Sikri and Delhi High Court Chief Justice G Rohini were present for the function..Speaking on the occasion, Justice Thakur stressed on the significant role that mediation can play in reducing the burden on the judiciary. He remarked,.“Today I am in the Supreme Court. It is the most powerful court in the country! It is the most powerful court in the world as the highest court of the world’s biggest democracy. But if you ask me how much my job satisfaction is, I would answer maybe 5%. That is because 95% of what I do doesn’t give me satisfaction.This Court was not meant for deciding anticipatory bail petitions or promotion of a head clerk which should have been done by the government on time. It is for larger issues. We were supposed to lay down the law for the lower courts to follow. But today me and my brother judges are busy reading SLP files day in and day out on anticipatory bail petitions and whether a person who dishonoured a cheque of Rs 4,000 should be sent to jail for three months or more.”.Justice Thakur, who will take over as the next Chief Justice of India from December of this year to January 2017, said that if the judge to population ratio in the USA and western European countries needs to be replicated in India, nearly 80,000 more judges would be required and it will not be easy to establish infrastructure required for their functioning..“We are not in Australia, we produce an Australia every year”, he said while calling upon the Bar to promote Mediation as a dispute resolution mechanism..Justice Khehar, who also spoke on the occasion said that mediators should understand culture before they attempt to mediate between parties..Senior Advocate AS Chandhiok proposed the vote of thanks..The Summit is being attended by mediators and lawyers from 18 countries..Image of Justice Thakur taken from here.