Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud has said that lawyers should be permitted to work on their electronic gadgets inside the courtrooms as long as they’re not watching movies on their iPad or laptops.
Inaugurating the administrative block and various e-initiatives of Calcutta High Court virtually on Wednesday, the CJI said the courtrooms should ensure internet facilities with adequate firewalls, so that it the same was put to genuine and authorised use.
Recalling the time when cell phones were banned inside many courtrooms, the CJI said mobiles had now ubiquitous in society.
Recalling a suggestion he recently received, the CJI said a young junior was working on her iPad in a courtroom in one of the High Courts, when the usher of the court told her to switch off the iPad since it was not in accordance with the discipline of the court.
He said the courts were carrying the discipline too far, adding that lawyers working on their electronic gadgets within the precincts of the courtroom should be allowed to work on them as long as they were not watching movies on their iPad or laptops.
As per Justice Chandrachud, it was important to trust people.
Speaking about the use of technology by the judiciary, the CJI said that his personal motto on the adoption of technology was to meet the needs of tomorrow as well.
He said rather than choosing a strategy where technology was designed to respond to existing problems, the judiciary must embrace a strategy where the existing systems were periodically revamped by the help of technology.
This would enable both the Bar and the Bench to meet any challenge head on, regardless of whether the challenge was foreseen or not, added the CJI.
He said the Public institutions must not lag behind private entities or individuals when it came to the adoption of technology, but should lead from the front.
On the importance of mobile applications in High Courts, CJI Chandrachud said technology was playing an important role in making the justice system more accessible to all the strata of the society. He elaborated by saying that mobile phones were more affordable for citizens than desktops or laptops.
He said if a litigant wanted to check the status of his/her case, for example, he/she would find it far easier to use the mobile app than the web browser.
While requesting the Calcutta High Court to revamp and modernise its website, CJI Chandrachud said there is an urgent need to do so.