Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Sunday said the present times are witnessing "belligerent and reckless behaviour" by a few individuals and some groups.

He, however, expressed optimism that such developments are just "exceptions" and will be defeated by the strong traditions of the country's legal institutions.

"I am hopeful that such incidents would turn out to be exceptions and that the strong traditions and ethos of our institution shall always assist our stakeholders to display resilience to overcome the belligerence of such wayward constituents," Gogoi said after laying the foundation stone of an auditorioum of the Gauhati High Court here.

The CJI said that unlike offices or establishments of the government, courts are unique with multiple stakeholders converging every day to facilitate and make the wheels of justice move forward, even though they may not be bound by any single hierarchy of commands.

The CJI also said that getting selected to be a judicial functionary is an opportunity to serve this hallowed institution, whose value is always immeasurably more than what can be reasonably visualised.

 He also said that over 1,000 cases are pending in courts across the country for 50 years, while a whopping two lakh-plus cases are pending for 25 years.

Addressing a public function here, Mr. Gogoi instructed Gauhati High Court Chief Justice (Acting) Arup Kumar Goswami to clear such long pending cases in Assam as soon as possible.