Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has called upon constitutional courts across Asia to engage with digitalisation and artificial intelligence without allowing technological advancement to displace the foundational values that animate constitutional adjudication.
Addressing the inaugural session of the VII Congress of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts (AACC) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, CJI Kant said the conference theme“Constitutional Justice in the Era of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence” was particularly apposite to the rapidly transforming legal and institutional landscape.
Observing that technology is progressively reshaping the manner in which societies function, the CJI underscored that the judicial branch could not remain insulated from this transformation.
He pointed to the considerable potential of digital technologies to strengthen the administration of justice, including by improving accessibility, expediting judicial processes and reducing procedural impediments. Artificial intelligence, he noted, could assist judges and court personnel in legal research and in processing voluminous bodies of information.
However, CJI Kant cautioned that technological innovation must remain subordinate to the constitutional mandate of courts and cannot become an end in itself.
The central constitutional inquiry, he suggested, is not merely what technology can accomplish, but what principles must remain inviolate when institutions undergo profound technological transformation.
For constitutional courts, he said, the answer lies in the values entrusted to them by their respective constitutional orders. Courts, he emphasised, do more than adjudicate disputes; through constitutional interpretation and judicial review, they give substantive meaning to guarantees of dignity, equality, liberty and fairness.
The CJI therefore stressed that the judicial system need not perceive tradition and technology as competing paradigms. Instead, technological tools should be assimilated into judicial institutions in a manner consistent with constitutional morality, institutional accountability and the rule of law.
The remarks assume particular significance as courts across jurisdictions increasingly adopt electronic filing, digital case-management systems, virtual hearings and artificial intelligence-assisted legal research. The growing technological interface with adjudication, however, also places renewed emphasis on questions of transparency, procedural fairness, accountability and human oversight.
CJI Kant further highlighted the significance of institutional dialogue among Asian constitutional courts. While constitutional systems across the continent have evolved within markedly different historical, political and legal traditions, he observed that several challenges generated by technological change transcend jurisdictional boundaries.
The AACC, he said, provides an institutional platform for comparative constitutional engagement and collective learning, enabling courts to exchange jurisprudential and institutional experience while respecting the distinct constitutional identities of member jurisdictions.
The Chief Justice maintained that such cross-jurisdictional dialogue could facilitate the evolution of principles capable of responding to an increasingly interconnected technological future without eroding the diversity of constitutional traditions.
His intervention ultimately placed the human person at the centre of the digital transformation of justice. Technology, he indicated, must function as an instrument for strengthening not supplanting the judicial process and its constitutional commitments.
Concluding his address, CJI Kant expressed the hope that the deliberations at the AACC Congress would reinforce a fundamental proposition: technological progress in the justice system must be accompanied by continued commitment to accessibility, accountability and the essentially human character of justice.
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