Hyderabad, June 8 -- The Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant, recently remarked at Oxford that the Supreme Court is developing a "Swadeshi Jurisprudence" rather than relying solely on "imported concepts." He made the observation while discussing the judiciary's adoption of artificial intelligence and technology, arguing for frameworks rooted in India's own constitutional values rather than imported models. Coincidentally, at almost the same moment, influential voices within the legal establishment have begun arguing that the 118-year-old Code of Civil Procedure should be discarded in favour of an entirely new procedural framework.

Viewed separately, both propositions appear harmless. Together, they should alarm every constitutional lawyer...