Supreme Court Judge, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud has given thumbs up to the Orissa High Court for taking digitisation to a new level, stating that sustained and continued implementation of a project was more important than framing the policy.
Speaking during the online event, organised by the Orissa High Court on completion of one year of Record Room Digitisation Centre on Friday, Justice Chandrachud said this marked one year of continuous effort, hard work and perseverance towards institutionalising digitisation in courts.
The Chairperson of the Supreme Court E-committee exhorted the lawyers to go for e-filing of cases and file all documents online, stating that the practice of bringing hard copies to the court was counterproductive to the aim of reducing carbon footprints.
He added that advocates filing cases by way of hard copies only added burden to the court staff, which had to digitise the same at its end.
Justice Chandrachud praised the Orissa High Court for taking digitisation to a new level, adding that the High Court has remained at the forefront in implementing initiatives of the E-committee.
Stating that digitisation of courts was just a beginning, Justice Chandrachud, who is set to become the Chief Justice of India in November, 2022, said that this would ensure that documents related to proceedings and orders become accessible to all stakeholders, besides being used for for educational and literary purposes.
Speaking about the silent resistance shown by few members of the Bar, when the Constitution Bench decided to become a complete ‘green bench,’ Justice Chandrachud said it was human nature to fear the unknown, adding that even when a system was completely inept, people remained content with the system.
He emphasised that it was time to embrace the unknown, since it would lead to development and in this case, was also good for the environment.