Despite all the hype about setting up e-courts in India and using the latest technology to make the justice delivery system fast and efficient, the lower courts still send “summons” through the court staff. They do not use emails, couriers or even the speed post service.
And this is when the Civil Procedure Code has clearly instructed all courts to use all of these for improving speed and efficiency.
According to a story published by The Times of India (TOI) recently, the startling fact came to light at the Supreme Court e-committee’s recent workshop on implementation of e-courts project across India. Judges of subordinate courts, registrar of all high courts, and senior law ministry officials were present at the workshop.
It was revealed by lower courts that summons were still being sent through “process servers” (delivery by hand through baildar).
According to the TOI report, Justice Madan Lokur, who heads the committee, pointed out that the Civil Procedure Code had been amended in 2002 to send summons via email, courier or Speed Post. But he was informed by the lower court judges that high courts controlling them were yet to make suitable changes in their rules to incorporate the 2002 amendment.
Justice Lokur, according to the TOI report, immediately asked the Registrars of the concerned High Courts to make the required changes in their rules.
The TOI report also informed about various government moves on the anvil to upgrade and modernize court functioning, such as using SMS and emails to update litigants and advocates about the progress of the case, particularly the next date of hearing.
It further said that in phase-II of the e-courts project, the plan was to provide court staff with hand-held GPS camera enabled palmtops or personal digital assistants. This will enable tracking of court officials and the time of delivery of summons to ensure that all are properly delivered.