e-Courts Sets To Benefit State, Judiciary And Public Of India

Bring About Transparency, Accountability And Speedy Disposal Of Cases
Chandigarh, April 11, 2016: A regional discussion regarding the e-Courts Project held in the Chandigarh Judicial Academy. Hon’ble Mr.Justice Madan B.Lokur, Judge, Supreme Court of India & Incharge, e-committee Supreme Court of India presided over the discussion and Hon’ble Judges of Computer Committees from four High Courts were also present during this occasion.
During the discussion, it was decided that since the entire e-Courts Project is set for the benefit of public, therefore, it be widely publicized informing public about availability of various services for exercising their rights.
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Madan B. Lokur had also emphasized that High Court and State Government should work in corroborating manner as e-Courts Project not only makes Court work convenient for general public but also saves crores of rupees from State Exchequer. Liberal funding of e-Court Projects was stated to be in the interest of State, Judiciary and people of India.
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal, Chairman, Computer Committee presented various Citizens Centric Services initiated by Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court. It was informed that all the decided cases lying in the record room of Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court have been digitalized. This digitalization exercise resulted in scanning of 15.90 crores pages along with disposal of 225 tones of waste papers generating revenue of Rs. 22,00,000/- from sale of said waste papers and more importantly freeing valuable space of 15,000 square feet.
An official spokesman of Punjab & Haryana High Court said that E-Committee, Supreme Court of India in consultation with Central Government came up with computerization project “e-Courts Phase-I” having total outlay of Rs. 900 crores out of which Rs.700 crores were spent. It was explained by Hon’ble Judge Incharge, e-committee informed that purpose of Phase-I was to computerize Subordinate Courts in the country with aim to bring about transparency, accountability and speedy disposal of cases by sharing case information with the litigants and advocates. e-Courts Phase-I Project has culminated in National Judicial Data Grid whereupon as on date 2 crore 30 lacs pending cases and 2.70 crore decided cases are available.
The Spokesman said that Expansion in judiciary resulting in recruitment of new judicial officers, resulted in setting up of new Courts required expansion of computerization programme. e-Committee has extended e-Court programme to Phase-II with total budget outlay of 1670 crores out of which 200 crores have been released for the purchase of hardware in the year 2015-16.
Demonstration of e-Filing module enabling the advocates and litigants to file cases online 24x7 as per their convenience from their home by paying Court fee online was also demonstrated by member Secretary e-committee. E-filing software is likely to be launched for general public in the month of August, 2016. Decimation of information regarding cases through SMS, e-mail services, display boards & KIOSK installed in the Courts was discussed and recommended to be implemented at all levels. Need to educate public about facilities available to them was stressed and it was agreed that wide publicity be given to citizen centric services to make public aware of their rights.
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Arun Palli & Hon’ble Mr. Justice Amit Rawal from Punjab and Haryana High Court, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Tashi Rabstan from Jammu & Kashmir High Court, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary & Hon’ble Mr. Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan from Himachal Pradesh and Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.S. Siradhana from Rajasthan High Court, Ms. Kusumjit Sidhu, IAS, Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Justice and Mr. Atul Kaushik, Joint Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Justice, Central Project Coordinators, NIC Coordinators, Member Secretaries of E-Committee, Supreme Court of India, Secretaries (Finance) and Law Secretaries from the participating States have attended the same.