Home · Health · Sep 14 archive
Public trust and public approval are not same; trust means fairness of process: CJI Surya Kant
Confirmed
In Short: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant stressed on Monday that courts earn legitimacy not through outcomes but through fairness of process, stating that even those who lose must walk away believing the system treated them justly.
Public trust, according to the CJI, is not the same as public approval, and the difference matters greatly. He underlined that transparency is crucial, not just for open doors and public hearings, but for the reasoning behind decisions to be accessible to anyone who cares to look.
The CJI said, 'If that is true, and I believe with my whole heart that it is, then public trust is not decoration. It is, in fact, the only currency that authority is ever paid in, the only coin the Judiciary has ever truly held.' He added that trust is not something any institution can earn once and rely on forever, but is the cumulative result of many honest, ordinary actions sustained over time.
The theme of the event was 'Justice Seen to Be Done: Transparency and Public Trust as Pillars of the Legal System.
What's confirmed
- Public trust, according to the CJI, is not the same as public approval, and the difference matters greatly. He underlined that transparency is crucial, not just for open doors and public hearings, but for the reasoning behind decisions to be accessible to anyone who cares to look.
- The CJI said, 'If that is true, and I believe with my whole heart that it is, then public trust is not decoration. It is, in fact, the only currency that authority is ever paid in, the only coin the Judiciary has ever truly held.' He added that trust is not something any institution can earn once and rely on forever, but is the cumulative result of many honest, ordinary actions sustained over time.
- The theme of the event was 'Justice Seen to Be Done: Transparency and Public Trust as Pillars of the Legal System.
What's still developing
- Published : September 14, 2026 at 9:59 PM IST New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Monday said courts earn legitimacy not through outcomes but through fairness of process, stressing that even those who lose must walk away believing the system treated them justly.
- "Winning, it turns out, is not really what buys a court its legitimacy, but fairness of process is. Losing a case does not, by itself, cost a court the public's trust, while being seen to act unfairly, most certainly does," said the CJI.
- He said a court earns trust not by being liked, or by delivering the outcomes people wanted.
- He said it means that the reasoning behind a decision, and not merely its result, can be examined by anyone who cares to look, including the very people the decision goes against.
- “Seen to be done” means a fair hearing conducted honestly in the open, and it means, just as much, a system that remains willing to be examined, again and again, on whether it has kept its own word, he said.
- He emphasized that a court earns trust when the people who lost, who wanted an entirely different result, still walk away believing that the process which decided against them was a fair one.
- That is a far harder thing to earn than approval, and far more valuable, he added.
- Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Monday said that public trust in the judiciary is not the same as public approval, as trust is not earned by giving outcomes people want but by ensuring fairness of process.