The High Court of Delhi today inaugurated its Online e-Filing System at 5 pm. The inauguration of the e-filing system was done in presence of Chief Justice D.N.Patel, his Companion Judges of Delhi High Court and other distinguished guests.
The Online e-Filing System will facilitate the filing of cases from the chambers or offices of the advocates. The advocates or litigants in person will be able to file fresh cases, caveat, applications, documents, rejoinders, etc., in the pending cases while sitting in their chambers, offices or their residence. The advocates will have no need to personally visit the filing counters any more once the system come into function .
The inauguration happened online and was be attended electronically by Secretaries of the Government of India, Chief Secretary (GNCTD), Director General (NIC), Officers of Department of Justice, Government of India, District & Sessions Judges, Officers of the District Judiciary, Executive Committee of Delhi High Court Bar Association and District Court Bar Associations, Registrars/Joint Registrars of Delhi High Court, Officers of NIC, Advocates, Staffs of Delhi High Court and general public.
A link had been made available on the official website to get access to the e-inauguration
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva addressed the program and stated that e-filing will allow the litigants to do filing from convenience of their home, it will be convenient and cost effective. It’ll speed up the filing process and also speed up the dispute resolution process. It also saves trees and is therefore environmentally effective.
Justice Navin Chawla, stated that the System will facilitate the lawyers not only during COVID-19 Period but later as well. He called upon Mohit Mathur, President of Delhi HC Bar Association to share his views, stating that the opinion of the Advocates that it is meant to help should also be heard.
Mr. Mohit Mathur, President of Delhi HC Bar Association, stated that the Counsels will now have freedom to file their cases conveniently. During the lockdown, I have realised the benefits of use of technology and also the ease in which the work gets done. When during the times we move forward we exhibit our faith in saying This too shall pass.
Considering the difficult times, even though the sudden change in medium has been forced on us, we have embraced it and moved forward. We can face the present challenge and bounce back, he said.
He added that mother nature cannot be taken for granted for very long and her fury as seen in recent times is only a reminder that there isn’t much time to compensate for the misadventures that have been done against the nature.
Justice Rajeev Shakdher, who is also the Chairman of IT Committee delivered the key note address. He stated that in 2009 Delhi HC had begun its journey of E-enablement, rapid transformation had taken place between 2013-2014, when 3 jurisdiction including Company law, taxation and arbitration matters went paperless. Now, we’ve reached a time where we can file cases, replies, caveats, etc from wherever we wish, with no deadline to meet. These services can be accessed by anyone 24/7 and from the convenience of their homes.
“Not being present in physical environment is not something to be happy about but we have tried to come up with a system to assist everyone. For those who cannot access these facilities due to lack of connectivity, hardware,etc we have also set up counters where lawyers can go and get the filing done.” he said
He added that the e-filing system has made filing convenient, has helped save Court’s inventory cost, and has benefited the environment. Thus, in sum the purpose has been and is to empower all stakeholders, specially the Bar and the litigants and to provide services which are easily accessible to one and all and is also cost effective
Delhi High Court Chief Justice DN Patel while giving the inaugural address stated that its true that necessity is the mother of invention.
“Once we start using the facilities which were already available, initially it’s difficult but after time we feel surprised as to how we were functioning without these facilities in the first place. I am a perfect example of this.” Said Chief Justice DN Patel
Chief Justice Patel also added that initially only physical filing was available, then e-filing was started but only in few matters like taxation, arbitration matters and now there is no need for the litigants to go to the Court at all, anything can be filed from any corner of the world, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Dwarka to Arunachal Pradesh. There are also certain peculiarities, one important one being that matters for any jurisdiction can be filed, and is not limited to tax or service matters.
India Legal Bureau