{"id":395374,"date":"2026-09-05T17:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=395374"},"modified":"2026-09-05T17:41:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T12:11:32","slug":"brics-chief-justices-forum-2026-cji-mediation-ai-arbitration-judicial-cooperation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/09\/05\/brics-chief-justices-forum-2026-cji-mediation-ai-arbitration-judicial-cooperation\/","title":{"rendered":"BRICS Chief Justices’ Forum 2026: CJI Highlights Mediation, AI, Arbitration and Judicial Cooperation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In his Welcome Address at the BRICS Chief Justices’ Forum on 5 September 2026 at the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice welcomed the Chief Justices, Presidents of the Highest Courts and Senior Judges of the BRICS Members and Partner Countries to India, describing the Forum as a “fellowship of judicial minds, bound together by the shared belief that the enduring values of justice can meet the dynamic challenges of our time<\/span>”.<\/p>\n

Reflecting upon the heritage of ancient Bharat, the Chief Justice referred to Nalanda University as a beacon of intellectual inquiry and a sanctuary where intellectuals from distant lands convened to debate, exchange and refine ideas that transcended the boundaries of geography and culture. What made Nalanda University truly unique, it was observed, was that it never asked its scholars to first agree upon a Common System of Law or philosophy, but offered “a healthy and hos pitable space for disagreement and deliberation”<\/span>. The Chief Justice observed that this was the truest precedent for what the BRICS Forum now seeks to do, bringing together different schools of thought to engage with each other directly.<\/p>\n

Justice as the Load-Bearing Wall<\/p>\n

The Chief Justice then emphasised that Economic Progress, Technology, Dispute Resolution and Sustainable Energy are not four separate engines running in parallel, but rest upon “a single foundation<\/span>”, namely, the timely and predictable delivery of justice. The role of judicial systems was compared to that of a “load-bearing wall<\/span>” wthin a building, one that may not be photographed for the brochure, yet “no building stands without it”.<\/span> The Chief Justice observed that when a foreign investor cannot be sure how swiftly or how fairly a dispute will be resolved in a given jurisdiction, such uncertainty directly burdens the contract in the form of higher risk premiums, added securities and stringent exit clauses. It becomes, in every practical sense, “an unwritten punitive cost of doing business”<\/span>, one that no legislature ever imposed, yet every investor ends up paying. Courts that deliver judgments swiftly, consistently, and in language the world can rely upon, however, are capable of removing that hidden cost altogether.<\/p>\n

The Sessions That Will Be Deliberated<\/p>\n

The Chief Justice thereafter outlined the four sessions for deliberation at the Forum.<\/p>\n

The first session<\/span> concerns Mediation<\/span>, treated not as some lesser substitute for litigation, but as<\/p>\n

“a calculated strategy for resolving international commercial disputes with a speed, a confidentiality, and a measure of goodwill that formal adjudication rarely affords”.<\/p>\n

The second session<\/span> concerns the cross-border enforcement of foreign arbitral awards<\/span>, where the promise of a single global standard still confronts the reality of differing national practice, with discussions focusing on the obstacles that persist and the prospects for procedural harmonisation.<\/p>\n

The third session<\/span> takes up Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation in the Administration of Justice<\/span>, including AI-assisted case listing and triage and the use of predictive analytics in court management, while examining where the line must be drawn to keep human judgment at the heart of every judicial decision.<\/p>\n

The fourth and final session<\/span> turns to judicial leadership in Ecological Governance<\/span>, examining the crucial role of Courts as nations transition towards solar, wind and other sustainable energy systems, often through disputes that pit renewable infrastructure against the forests, wildlife and water bodies it is built to preserve.<\/p>\n

Concluding, the Chief Justice described the BRICS Chief Justices’ Forum as “a modern fabric woven with traditional threads<\/span>”. The discussions, it was observed, are rooted in a shared quest “to seek solutions that serve humanity and to envision a world where law can be the gentle yet unyielding current that guides the river of development towards the ocean of shared prosperity”<\/span>. Recalling India’s old and rich heritage of welcoming seekers with “open arms and open minds”<\/span>, the Chief Justice invited the participants to discuss with candour, reflect with humility and build bridges of understanding, entering the deliberations with an ethos that is “open, rigorous and inspired by the pursuit of a higher good”.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Today’s gathering was also addressed by:<\/p>\n