Chief Justice of India reminded the BRICS Chief Justice Forum about the legacy of Nalanda University, proposed BRICS Plus Judicial Fellowship and Nyay Setu of a shared jurisprudence repository

The 3-day BRICS Chief Justices’ Forum brought together Chief Justices, Presidents of Supreme Courts and senior judicial leaders from BRICS Member States and Partner Countries during 4-6 September 2026. As part of the Forum, a series of bilateral meetings were held between with heads of judicial delegations and judicial leaders from Russia, China, Egypt, Indonesia, the UAE, Belarus, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Iran and Uzbekistan. There were four sessions-1. mediation, 2. cross-border enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, 3. Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation in the Administration of Justice and 4. judicial leadership in Ecological Governance-at the Forum. 

During the first session Chief Justice of India stated that the conventional methods of adjudication pose the question “Who is legally right?”, in mediation the question is: “What arrangement will allow the parties to move forward?”. This difference determines whether a commercial relationship will survive a dispute or will be lost because mediation is a process of “reason and reconciliation”. China and India have signed the Singapore Convention on Mediation in 2019, Brazil ratified it in 2025. India has enacted Mediation Act, 2023 and established Mediation Council of India on August 27, 2026.

The BRICS Chief Justices’ Forum held in New Delhi was addressed by Luiz Edson Fachin, President, Supreme Federal Court of Brazil; Zhang Jun, Chief Justice, People’s Republic of China and President, Supreme People’s Court; Igor Krasnov, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the Russian Federation; Ms. Mahube Betty Molemela, President, Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa; Ayatollah Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Eje’I, Chief Justice, Islamic Republic of Iran;Boulos Fahmy Iskander Boulos, Chief Justice, Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt; Tewodros Meheret Kebede, President, Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia; Sunarto, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Indonesia; Mohammed Hamad Al Badi Al Dhaheri, President, UAE Federal Supreme Court;Andrei Shved, Chairman, Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus; Dr. Romer Saucedo Gomez, President, Supreme Court of Bolivia; Aslambek Mergaliyev, Chairman, Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan;Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Bin Jais, President, Court of Appeal, Malaysia;Ms. Muntharee Ujjin, President, Court of Appeal, Thailand; Dr. Flavian Zeija, Chief Justice, Republic of Uganda and Ms. Malikakhon Kalandarova, Deputy Chairperson, Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan besides Justice Surya Kant, Chief Justice of India. 

Justice Surya Kant reminded the BRICS Chief Justice Forum about how Nalanda University located in Bihar used to be the most eminent educational centre where students and researchers from all over the world used to be admitted without any discrimination or barriers. What made Nalanda University unique was that it never asked its scholars to first agree upon a Common System of Law or philosophy before it admitted them. It rather offered a healthy and hospitable space for disagreement and deliberation. BRICS should also be known as the living Nalanda University. He said, "Let me modestly propose two things for this forum's consideration. First, a BRICS Plus Judicial Fellowship, allowing every career jurist to sit very briefly in one another's courts. And second, a shared jurisprudence repository, drawing on India's own considerable investment in digitised case law, so that a judgment written in New Delhi, Brasília, or Pretoria need not wait years to inform a bench elsewhere facing an identical question. If there is one phrase you absorb into your vocabulary this morning, let it be 'Nyay Setu', a bridge of justice that connects 11 legal traditions, which have mutually agreed that trust should be cultivated deliberately rather than awaited passively..."

Earlier, on August 22, 2026, he had addressed the 11th BRICS Legal Forum in New Delhi, wherein, Justice Surya Kant said that the rule of law is an edifice upon which civilisations construct their aspirations. He referred to "Nyaya-nomics" to stress the role of justice in fostering economic growth through trust and predictability.  BRICS Plus countries represent 40% of world population.