AHMEDABAD: The first model e-court in the country that will make the judicial process more transparent and justice delivery system speedier, besides removing the bottlenecks was launched by the Gujarat High Court here on Sunday.
Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan inaugurated the first e-court, which started functioning on a pilot basis at the Ahmedabad City Civil and Sessions Court on Monday, providing tamperproof authentic audio-video recording of proceedings with multi-point video conferencing facilities linking the courtroom, central jail, the police commissioner’s office and the Forensic Science Laboratory.
The e-court project would save thousands of man hours the police lose in making security arrangements for bringing under-trials to court and nullify the chances of escape during transit operations.
The under-trials lodged in the central jail could be virtually presented before the court through video conferencing.
Speaking on the occasion, Justice Balakrishnan said efforts would be made to open similar e-courts in Mumbai and in other parts of the country at the earliest.
For the judiciary, the advantage would be that the entire proceedings would be video-recorded and available for review in case of any doubt.
The “biggest advantage would be when the witnesses turn hostile in the court rooms or in reviewing the statements of the lawyers,” Principal Sessions Judge G. B. Shah said.
Source: hindu
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Establishment of e-courts in India is not an easy task. This is so because the same requires tremendous techno-legal and domain specific expertise. The starting point for the same is to have a homogenous and holistic composition of the techno-legal experts for E-Court Committee as well as those handing the project. The Indian government and judiciary do not understand that in the absence of good experts to manage the project, e-courts in India would remain a dream only. Speedy Justice through E-Courts has miserably failed in India. The concept of E-Judiciary in India is still a Dream and not a reality. If at all E-Courts exists in India they exist on the NEGP Dreamland and papers only. There is also a lack of foresight on the part of those who are managing the e-courts project. Take the example of the facility of e-filing in the Supreme Court of India. The same is faulty on many counts. Firstly, the facility is available only to an “Advocate on Record” (AOR) or a “Party in Person”. Now almost 95% lawyers of India are “disqualified” to file a petition/case in the Supreme Courts unless they use the services of AOR. Secondly, it is available at Supreme Court only that should have been the last Court to have e-courts facility. The most pressing requirement of e-courts is at the ground level, i.e., lower courts that are still far from getting the same. Thirdly, merely computerisation or procurement without training the judicial officers is of no use. Even if we have the e-courts facilities at various courts there would be neither lawyers nor judicial officers to manage the same. We hope the new E-Court Committee would take serious and productive steps to implement E-Courts Project in India. It seems the government and judiciary are stressing too much upon procurement and nothing upon management. Mere procurement of IT would do no good. For instance, India recently launched the Model e-court project, 2009 once again upon this faulty premise. If video conferencing and linking of courts to prisons and other institution is the e-court model of India, we are heading towards nothing. For instance, if we have two laptops having Internet connection, web camera and microphone at prison and concerned court respectively, than the same result can be achieved without wasting hundred of crores of hard earned public money. It seems the government and judiciary are just stressing too much upon technology without understanding and utilising it, says Mr. Praveen Dalal. The proposed model e-court projects, 2009 is once again faulty despite all glamour and hype that it has created. E-courts is much more that mere connectivity and computerisation and only God know when India is going to realise this truth and act accordingly.
Good news. The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for the extension of the term of E-Committee beyond February, 2009, for a period of one year. The Cabinet has also approved that subsequent extensions of the E-Committee would be made with the approval of the Minister for Law and Justice after consultation with the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India and the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure.
The readers of this platform must be aware that Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law, protested against the existing e-court progress at http://perry4law.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/do-we-have-e-courts-in-india/ . Perry4Law has also dedicated a web resource on e-courts in India at http://perry4law.googlepages.com/e-courtsinindia and legal enablement of ICT systems in India, including e-courts, at http://legalenablementofictinindia.blogspot.com/ .
The main objection to the union cabinet decision was on account of indefinite period allowed to the committee as well as the progress of e-courts in India. It seems the govt of India once again accepted the recommendations of Mr. Praveen Dalal and Perry4Law.
Good news. The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for the extension of the term of E-Committee beyond February, 2009, for a period of one year. The Cabinet has also approved that subsequent extensions of the E-Committee would be made with the approval of the Minister for Law and Justice after consultation with the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India and the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure.
The readers of this platform must be aware that Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law, protested against the existing e-court progress at http://perry4law.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/do-we-have-e-courts-in-india/ . Perry4Law has also dedicated a web resource on e-courts in India at http://perry4law.googlepages.com/e-courtsinindia and legal enablement of ICT systems in India, including e-courts, at http://legalenablementofictinindia.blogspot.com/ .
The main objection to the union cabinet decision was on account of indefinite period allowed to the committee as well as the progress of e-courts in India. It seems the govt of India once again accepted the recommendations of Mr. Praveen Dalal and Perry4Law.
Establishment of e-courts in India is not an easy task. This is so because the same requires tremendous techno-legal and domain specific expertise. The starting point for the same is to have a homogenous and holistic composition of the techno-legal experts for E-Court Committee as well as those handing the project. The Indian government and judiciary do not understand that in the absence of good experts to manage the project, e-courts in India would remain a dream only. Speedy Justice through E-Courts has miserably failed in India. The concept of E-Judiciary in India is still a Dream and not a reality. If at all E-Courts exists in India they exist on the NEGP Dreamland and papers only. There is also a lack of foresight on the part of those who are managing the e-courts project. Take the example of the facility of e-filing in the Supreme Court of India. The same is faulty on many counts. Firstly, the facility is available only to an “Advocate on Record” (AOR) or a “Party in Person”. Now almost 95% lawyers of India are “disqualified” to file a petition/case in the Supreme Courts unless they use the services of AOR. Secondly, it is available at Supreme Court only that should have been the last Court to have e-courts facility. The most pressing requirement of e-courts is at the ground level, i.e., lower courts that are still far from getting the same. Thirdly, merely computerisation or procurement without training the judicial officers is of no use. Even if we have the e-courts facilities at various courts there would be neither lawyers nor judicial officers to manage the same. We hope the new E-Court Committee would take serious and productive steps to implement E-Courts Project in India. It seems the government and judiciary are stressing too much upon procurement and nothing upon management. Mere procurement of IT would do no good. For instance, India recently launched the Model e-court project, 2009 once again upon this faulty premise. If video conferencing and linking of courts to prisons and other institution is the e-court model of India, we are heading towards nothing. For instance, if we have two laptops having Internet connection, web camera and microphone at prison and concerned court respectively, than the same result can be achieved without wasting hundred of crores of hard earned public money. It seems the government and judiciary are just stressing too much upon technology without understanding and utilising it, says Mr. Praveen Dalal. The proposed model e-court projects, 2009 is once again faulty despite all glamour and hype that it has created. E-courts is much more that mere connectivity and computerisation and only God know when India is going to realise this truth and act accordingly.