NEW DELHI: The pandemic seems to have paved way for a digital transformation in the judiciary. Even as courts turned to virtual platforms to hear fresh cases during the lockdown, several High Courts in the country completely digitised their old case records during the same period.
As many as 13 High Courts have digitised all their records, numbering around 100 crore. With the digitisation, it is now possible to monitor the real-time progress of cases.
Information on the status of a case, date of hearing and the counsel involved is now available online. The process involves scanning of case records and converting them into digital format.
According to the Ministry of Law and Justice, by the end of 2021 all case records in the country, including in trial courts, will be completely digitised.
“The digitisation of records will play a vital role in shifting daily court proceedings to virtual mode. We have already studied the judicial system in five countries where it is completely digitised. We are also working on a plan to offer computer courses to fresh lawyers who are not well conversed with virtual hearings,” a ministry official said.
The Delhi High Court had introduced e-filing of cases even before the Covid-19 outbreak.
However, it was limited to commercial matters, such as arbitration cases, and it also depended on the judge hearing the case.
After the lockdown was lifted, e-filing was introduced for all urgent matters, irrespective of the nature of case. Similarly, a majority of National Company Law Tribunals had introduced digital filing of cases before the pandemic outbreak, but they had also made it mandatory to submit a physical copy.