‘Delhi Is Not India...’: Supreme Court Judge Says Legal Talent Exists Across Country

Last Updated:April 07, 2026, 17:21 IST

Justice Aravind Kumar says Delhi is not the sole centre of legal excellence, warns against Delhi centric bias in law and AI, urges recognition of talent across India

Supreme Court Judge Justice Aravind Kumar has said that Delhi should not be seen as the centre of legal excellence in India, rejecting the notion that lawyers practising in the capital are superior to others.

Speaking at a seminar in Bengaluru, the judge stressed that “Delhi is not India and India is not Delhi", calling the long-held perception of Delhi’s dominance in the legal field “false" and shaped by institutional and social factors.

He noted that Delhi’s prominence comes from being the national capital, hosting the Supreme Court and handling high-profile cases, but this does not make it the highest standard of legal practice in the country.

Justice Kumar also underlined that legal talent and excellence are spread across courts and institutions nationwide, including high courts, district courts and tribunals. He said the idea that proximity to the capital determines professional ability has no constitutional basis.

He further emphasised that India’s legal system is diverse and decentralised and cannot be reduced to a single city’s influence, adding that country’s law is not manufactured in the national capital and distributed to the rest of the country. It is argued, shaped, tested and developed across India, he noted.

Justice Aravind Kumar also raised concerns over the growing role of artificial intelligence in the legal field, warning that systems built on Delhi-centric data could reinforce existing hierarchies instead of widening access. He cautioned that such reliance risks hard-coding metropolitan bias into the future, and stressed that a legal framework shaped by narrow, city-focused data would fail to reflect India’s diverse, federal and multilingual constitutional reality.

News india ‘Delhi Is Not India...’: Supreme Court Judge Says Legal Talent Exists Across Country

Read More