CJI in the view of using technology in Courts: Developing ‘E-Seva Kendra’ to make judiciary accessible to citizens
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, while hearing a plea regarding the declaration of virtual hearings as a fundamental right, conveyed angst toward High Court’s Chief Justices who were not using virtual platforms or infrastructure for hearings. During the hearing, CJI expressed the importance of technology in the judiciary and virtual hearings. He said that “Whether you are pro-technology or not, all Chief Justices of High Courts need to learn that technology is to be used.” In addition to this, CJI also stated that Supreme Court’s E-Committee was setting up “E-Seva Kendra” in all Courts so as to make the judiciary more accessible to the citizens of the country including villages. This is to be done with the help of the Common Service Centre that comes under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. E-Seva Kendra will provide different e-governance services to the citizens.
Vice President of the Bar Council of India, S Prabhkaran showed his concern about the unavailability of technological access in rural areas. CJI further replied that “Those lawyers who do not have internet facilities - we must reach out to them. We have to carry everyone along. The answer is to make technology to the grassroots. We must ensure that technology reaches to every taluka court in the country. That is why, as part of the mission of phase III of e-courts project, we are setting up E-seva Kendra in every court establishment. So if a lawyer does not have access to the internet, the lawyer can go to the E-Seva Kendra and get all the facilities which are available.” CJI also added “Our mission is to reach out to people. Recently we started e-SCR. This was for those lawyers who cannot afford private software. Lawyers who cannot understand English, we will translate judgments for them- technology is doing that. IIT Madras is helping us - we’re using it for machine translation.”
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CJI, during the hearing, highlighted a huge budget allocated for e-courts, “In the third phase of e-courts project, in the last budget which has been declared by the Union Government, Rs 7000 crores is made available. That of course will be used for improving the infrastructure in all the district courts also.” It was observed by the CJI that tribunals are also disbanding technology as they think that technology was only for a pandemic. To this, CJI Chandrachud replied “Likewise, some tribunals are also disbanding. As if they’re saying, technology was only for a pandemic. Technology was not only for pandemic. It’s here to stay here for future. We’ll formulate an order and pass.” Lastly, the Court stated that tribunals and Courts should facilitate hybrid hearings with the help of money allocated for technological upgradation.
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