Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday said the decorum and dignity of the judiciary was being eroded by “loud and motivated” conduct in courts, reported PTI. Speaking during the Independence Day celebrations at the Supreme Court, he added that such “indecorous acts” must be identified and quarantined.

Gogoi unfurled the national flag at the top court’s lawn. Several dignitaries, including Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Attorney General KK Venugopal and senior advocates, were present at the event.

“Indian judiciary has since some time past witnessed an unprecedented rise of instance of indecorous acts... Such instances of inappropriate behaviour have raised their ugly head in all courts including the Supreme Court,” he said. “Graceful and pleasant discourses and deliberations are increasingly being replaced by loud and motivated conduct.”

Gogoi asked all stakeholders to “overcome parochial overtones and myopic considerations” to reinvent the infrastructure of the Supreme Court so that the demands of the litigants can be handled. “Reinventing the infrastructure would not be a mean task and it is expected to test our mettle and our character to be able to move out of our comfort zones and aid our institution,” he added.

The chief justice said the increased strength of the Supreme Court would help reduce the pendency of cases. He was referring to a recent bill passed by Parliament to increase the number of Supreme Court judges from 31 to 34. The strength was last increased from 26 to 31 in 2009, and all positions were filled for the first time in a decade only recently. In June, Gogoi had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the top court had 58,669 pending cases and the number was rising due to more cases being filed.

“Functioning in its full capacity in the last few months, it looks forward to cater to a larger number of litigants and aspires to reduce the time that is presently being taken to deal with the cases before it,” said Gogoi. “The increase in the strength of judges is also expected to reduce the perceived pendency of cases before it.”