Smriti Singh - 27 November 2009

 

SMS alerts about court hearings to advocates and litigants, summons sent through emails, e-stamps instead of stamp paper, recording of evidence through video-conferencing, virtual tour of court premises- The Delhi High Court is finally coming of age. In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, the HC is all set to become a first paperless court with the launch of the digitalization project under which filing of cases and court proceedings will done in digital mode. 

 

The concept called 'e-courts' will see a complete makover with the court replacing the cumbersome paper work with CD/DVD where lawyers would file their petitions in digital mode by using USB drive. With a target of digitalising everything within two years, the pilot project will start in the court of Justice S Ravindra Bhat by December 8. "From the first week of December one civil court will start working as e-court in which all documents would be in digital form and later within two years that will expand to the whole court," said Justice B D Ahmed, who is heading the computer committee of the High Court, while demonstrating for the lawyers.

The phasing out plan will bring in many first ever concepts seen in any of the courts in India. This includes digitalising all the existing documents and put them into the system. The judges will have their special LCD touch screens where they can make corrections directly on the computer screens and will use their digital signatures to certify the copy. The court are also considering to record the statement of witnesses through video conferencing to avoid procedural delays.

Lawyers on the other hand, will be required to file the petitions in PDF form which will soon be converted in the court compatible mode. Even lawyers will be provided with the computers in the court rooms so that they can start of with the case directly.

To speed up the judicial process, the committee plans to send summons and notices via email. "For the people who do not have an email id, the summons will be sent through emails to the nearest post office, which will then take a print out and hand it over to the person concerend. this will save a lot of time and man power, " said Justice S Murlidhar while explaining the concept.

The court has already started on with the process and has digitalized around 5.5 crore papers pertaining to various cases upto 2007. After establishment of e-court, the lawyers would come to court along with their laptops instead of bulky files and the judge would peruse the documents with the help of a touch screen display board.

Justice Ahmed added that court proposed to have a web cast on its portal which would live telecast of proceeding of selective cases which will have larger public interest. The committee has also thought of having a huge backup for the archives which will be digitalised. The backup will be kept in two different cities so that they do not lose the data.

Talking about creating a virtual courtroom, Justice S Murlidhar said that they will soon be launchin web casting- a facility where court proceedings will be shown live on the internet. The judges say that the method will not only ensure speedy justice but will also ensure that the judiciary goes eco-friendly. The committee also said that the concept will also be implemented in the trial courts once the project gets over in HC. 

 

Source:  The Times Of India