Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant Sunday said that the challenge before the justice system lies not in the absence of rights but in ensuring that they are accessible in practice, noting that “a right that cannot be accessed in practice is little more than a promise on paper.”His remarks came at the North Zone Regional Conference on “Enhancing Access to Justice”, organised by the Uttarakhand State Legal Services Authority in collaboration with the National Legal Services Authority in Dehradun.The conference, themed “Justice Beyond Barriers: Rights, Rehabilitation and Reform for the Most Vulnerable,” focused on barriers faced by citizens in accessing legal remedies, particularly in regions where geography and infrastructure limit institutional reach.Speaking in this context, the CJI said that in many cases, the difficulty faced by citizens is not the absence of laws but the distance between legal entitlements and lived reality. “We have rights but not always access to them; we have remedies, but they do not always reach the person for whom they were intended,” he said, pointing to delays, distance, and gaps in implementation.Drawing on his interactions across regions, including with armed forces personnel, tribal communities, and coastal populations, he said legal concerns often relate to everyday issues such as land disputes, access to welfare schemes, and administrative delays. These, he said, reflect the need for legal service mechanisms to function closer to communities.Referring to the legal aid initiatives and outreach programs, he said the system has moved beyond conceptual and is now operational, but added that the focus must shift to outcomes. “The real challenge… lies in bridging that final and most difficult distance… between intention and outcome. It is the distance between right recognised in law and right realised in life,” he said.Calling for a change in approach, he said institutions must move “from counting activities to measuring outcomes, from announcing schemes to ensuring follow-up.” Justice delivery, the CJI said, must not remain confined to courtrooms but must “arrive at the doorstep of every citizen.”Story continues below this adAt the event, the CJI also launched the Nyaya-Mitra portal, which is designed to enable citizens to register and track legal aid grievances online, with a focus on improving access in remote and underserved regions.He said that the test of the Constitution lies in everyday access to justice. “The true measure of our institution is not how high they stand but how far they reach,” he said, adding that the Republic will ultimately be judged not by the rights it declares but by the rights it delivers.Speaking at the conference, Justice Vikram Nath of the Supreme Court said that access to justice must be viewed beyond physical access to courts and understood in terms of “reach, awareness, and trust.” Efforts must be directed towards ensuring that “Justice moves outward towards the citizen rather than expecting the citizen to navigate inward.” Digital platforms like the Nyaya-Mitra portal are aimed at reducing procedural barriers and improving transparency in the delivery of legal aid, he added.