Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud while launching the online inspection software of Delhi High Court today, said that this initiative is a step in the right direction of a sustainable transformation of justice delivery system.
The CJI praised the Delhi High Court for being the pioneer in modernizing courts in the country through the role of information technology. Justice Chandrachud added that all courts of the High Court can now function as e-courts, in addition to physical hearings from time to time.
CJI added that programmes like online e-filing system, web links dedicated to urgent matters, digitised case records, video conferencing system have added to the ability of a sustainable future court system prevailing in the Delhi High Court.
CJI further said that he believes that the Delhi High Court is way ahead of the Supreme Court in the facilities which are provided, not just to the judges but to the lawyers and to the litigants as well.
The CJI in the lighter vein said that said the great danger of replicating the Delhi High Court is that the apex court might be accused of “intellectual piracy”.
On a serious and affirmative note the CJI said that we would like to copy the work done by dynamic judges of the Delhi High Court by borrowing the intellectual capital of the Delhi High Court into the Supreme Court.
He added that on the same note, he has constituted this committee called the Monitoring and Implementation Committee, as part of the e-Committee of the Supreme Court.
The e-committee of Supreme Court consists of Justice Rajiv Shakhder, have Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan from the Kerala High Court, Justice Suraj Govindaraj from the Karanataka High Court and Justice Anoop Chitkara from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
CJI said that we must pass on the baton to the younger generation and create administrative skills, the capacity for learning the capacity for understanding India beyond the confines of our own high courts.
Talking about the unenviable task of delivering justice ,CJI Chandrachud said that Technology has become a powerful tool in the legal system, improving efficiency, accessibility, and accuracy in the administration of justice..
CJI said that Apex Court had organised a pilot hackathon for exploring practical propositions for bringing efficiency in the existing process from filing to listing of judicial matters.
He has said that the second step would be to organise Hackathon 2.0, which would be open for everyone to participate.
Talking about the feedback loop which lead improvement in the technology, CJI Chandrachud said that the willingness to test, take feedback, or changes that are needed at the hour
He added that feedback from the community allowed the IT Committee of the Delhi High Court to address specific needs of judicial officials, during implementation of the former e-inspection software.
Appreciating the new software of online inspection, Justice Chandrachud said that the next step would be taking the said initiative forward and implementing it in all the high courts, the Supreme Court and most importantly the district courts.
While concluding his address, CJI commended each member of the IT Committee and court officers who led to the development of the software.