What a visit to the Supreme Court Judges' Library told me about the many possibilities of democratising this institution

I think yesterday was a good day. For the first time, I visited the Judges Library of the Supreme Court, nestled in Administrative Block Number One, bang opposite the Court itself. 

The library was built in 2019, but due to the pandemic, it became operational only two years ago.  

At the entrance stood Lady Justice, bejewelled, her long hair tied back, her eyes wide open. Clasping the scales of justice in one hand, her other hand held the Constitution of India.

Strolling through it, I couldn’t help but notice that it was  an amazingly beautiful structure. Built in a circular form enabling movement through the semi circle, the books are arranged at the outer edge of the semicircle. It has four floors and ample space to move around each floor. 

I have spent enough decades in this city to know that the feeling of space and light  is not something you can take for granted in  Delhi - a demure space for the finer things in life like simply reading in peace.  

The ground floor houses text books, the first  floor the Statutes, rules and regulations and the other two floors archive several legal periodicals from all over the world. In February, when I requested permission for lawyers to use the library, my eyes were really on those periodicals.. 

Today, the library permits twenty five lawyers to use the facility at a time, to sit in a quiet corner and read anytime between 10:30 AM and 4 PM. My opinion is that the time duration is a bit unfair - lawyers are generally (hopefully) in the Supreme Court during this time, rushing through corridors, preparing for appearances, filing, or catching a bite or a coffee amidst the quick, snappy pace of life in this profession. 

In the library, a world seemingly away from that rush, I noticed that the journals were not available in digitised form, and barring two, all were available in hard copy only. Apparently the publications themselves have not gone online and continue to publish exclusively in print .

A digital catalogue at the entrance makes your search easy and painless. One look at the catalogue can tell you what the judges are reading since the stock position shows what has been issued!

I went straight to the Ambedkar shelf . Given that he was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, I expected, rather reasonably, a lot from that shelf. How up to date was the highest Constitutional court of the country on Ambedkarite literature, of which we have had so much brilliant and defiant work come out in the past decade?

Fortunately, I did find the Government of Maharashtra’s collected writings and speeches of Dr Ambedkar, edited by Hari Narake, the only available such publication at an affordable price. I also found a three volume collection of the cases Dr Ambedkar had argued - from the trial courts and Magistrates Courts to the Supreme Court, published by Mrs Gayatri B. Gaikwad, an invaluable addition to that shelf.