Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 23: In a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by practicing advocates seeking direction for computerization of courts, Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur today issued notice to State High Court through Registrar General, Chief Secretary and National Informatics Centre, Jammu & Kashmir returnable within three weeks.
Advocate Aparajita Jamwal for the PIL submitted that in the Indian Judiciary effort for computerization of some of its processes has been going on since 1990. A need has always been felt to make the programme of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enablement of the Indian Judiciary mission-critical.
There has been an overwhelming realization in the judicial sector in favour of devising a National Policy and Action Plan with appropriate spread and phasing to implement ICT in courts across the country and their web-based interlinking.
The objective of this exercise is to enhance judicial productivity both qualitatively and quantitatively as also make the justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost effective, transparent and accountable. Similar objectives have been achieved in other parts of the world by use of technology but in India though its manpower is known for its technology expertise, the ICT benefits could not be fully explored and utilized in public service sectors like judiciary and other organs of the State, the PIL said.
“The rapid accumulation and slow disposal rate of pending cases has increased burden on our judicial system tremendously. Courts have to maintain all the records in physical manner– either in files or registers and to keep such large data in paper form is not easy to retrieve and also not even safe and is prone to physical tempering & environmental degradation as in the case of the recent floods in our State”, the PIL said.
The counsel for the PIL submitted that there needs to be a system of e-filing. The lawyers would file urgent petitions such as protection matters, bail matters online and lawyers as well as parties can print hard copies of all pleadings and documents filed electronically for their use in the court or elsewhere.
Likewise, the Registry will, wherever required, prepare hard copies for use of the courts. The pleadings and documents electronically filed will be stored on an exclusive server maintained under the control and directions of the High Court of J&K. Each case will be separately labeled and encrypted for this purpose to facilitate easy identification and retrieval.
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