Role Of Pandemic In Digitization Of Indian Judiciary

Plato famously wrote in the Socratic dialogue ‘Republic’ that “our need will be the real creator” and this passed through the crevices of time, eventually turning into the English proverb ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’. This stands true when the increased digitisation of Indian Judiciary is observed as its rapid pace can be traced back to the helplessness faced during the Covid- 19 pandemic.

The digitisation of Indian Judiciary or any other field in India cannot be studied without e-Governance initiatives in India, followed by the e-Courts initiatives and the catalyst effect of the pandemic.

In the beginning of e-Governance in India a National Task Force on Information Technology and Software development was set up in 1998. But the Ministry of Information Technology in 1999 at the centre was one of the biggest flag bearers of these developments. Then came the Information Technology Act in the year 2000 which showed the progress of the country on the path of technology and digitisation and also gave a proof of our preparedness. Since the changes taking place in that period were still gradual as compared to our current scenario, the government’s preparedness was also somewhat at par. 

The mass oriented approach to these initiatives came with the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) which aimed at reaching down to the most remote areas of the country so that every facet of the country could walk together on the road of technological advancements.

e-Courts Services:

If you type e-Courts on any search engine you will reach a website that shows the vast Indian Judicial System on a compact screen where at one glance you come to know the pendency of cases, number of cases disposed and links to check the orders, case status and cause lists of high courts as well as district courts. This might seem like a very ordinary website but it acts as a mirror into how rapidly technology has given convenience a chance. This may remind one of his or her internship days when they had to reach the courts before their seniors to check which cases at what number are listed for the day.

The project of e-Courts was born out of the “National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Indian Judiciary- 2005”. While already known to almost everyone in the legal fraternity, this project has paved way for advocates and litigants  to check their case status and details, cause lists and judgements and orders, e-filing their suits and electronically paying the fees prescribed.

To understand the entirety of the e-Courts project we can look at its phase wise development. In the year 2007 the first phase of the project started where a large number of court sites were computerised and the facility of video conferencing was started in jails.

From the year 2015 the websites of trial courts were computerised and finally we entered the third phase of the project which aims at making the justice system more accessible for people. Interestingly, this stage aimed at inclusion and accessibility will get an expenditure of Rs.7,000 Crores as per the announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Catalyst Effect of The Coronavirus Pandemic:

While the initiatives of e- Courts were already present before the pandemic and had been developing for years, the dependency on these measures and their need was truly felt amidst the outbreak. While there were several litigants suffering from the closed court doors there was also a growing need to settle several questions of law which kept on piling up during the pandemic. This became the period where the courts started functioning extensively through online mode. While this was to facilitate some sort of functioning on part of the courts and to provide remedy, it has now emerged to solve a completely different purpose. 

Even after the end of the pandemic the courts have retained their freedom to function in a hybrid mode solely because it gave a lot of freedom to far fetched advocates and litigants to appear before the courts through virtual mode without actually having to go through transportation, paying of commute charges or accommodation charges in some other city or without wasting time which could be used in the preparation of the case itself.

Stellar Example of Madhya Pradesh State Information Commission (MPSIC):

An example that sets itself apart in the journey of innovative methods of operating is that of MPSIC. In this regards Abhay Jain informed that- 

During the pandemic, all the hearings in the Madhya Pradesh State Information Commission (MPSIC) were stalled and people were struggling to appear for appeals & complaints pending in the Commission. MPSIC does not have any system or software for conducting hearings online. During this time, Rahul Singh, Information Commissioner, MPSIC found an innovative way of conducting hearings which continues till date. He started his hearings on phone calls and Whatsapp calls. The Show cause notice, hearings notice, summons were issued on Whatsapp.

This system was particularly accessible to people living in panchayats and semi-urban areas as they are usually not familiar with google meet or zoom and prefer normal phone calls or whatsapp calls. This did not just save the time, resources of the people who filed cases in the commission but also of all the officers and authorities who used to come to Bhopal for hearings. There were many challenges in adopting such an approach but as the time passed things have become smooth. Now, the RTI applicants can even call up the office of Rahul Singh to ask for an urgent listing of cases as we understand that it’s a struggle for people in rural areas to write an urgent hearing application. 

The larger question that came to mind while these hearings were taking place on phone and whatsapp was how the justice delivery systems in our country needs to step out, to take a step forward so that people on the last mile can access them.

Setbacks to Virtual Hearings:

While virtual hearings have been widely accepted as a boon, there are several issues related to them which one would find if they ever decide to take a stroll in any district court and hold a discussion with the old advocates practicing there. They raise several concerning points such as lack of infrastructural facilities in the court complex due to which advocates inside the complex or in their chambers or in their makeshift offices cannot avail the benefits of virtual hearings. Another issue is that there are several old lawyers who do not understand the technology enough to present their cases in virtual mode and need help in logging in the courts or submitting their documents over the internet. 

Another issue that these advocates raise is that meeting the clientele also becomes difficult due to advancements in technology as when people had to physically visit the courts, they would meet the advocates and the interaction would lead to getting more clients. Some advocates do not have a space near the complexes to sit and hence they need to use the libraries with internet facilities to sit in virtual hearings or to just use the internet for these purposes but such technologically equipped libraries do not have nearly enough seating and are themselves rare to exist in district courts.

Recent Developments:

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud who is also the chairperson of Supreme Court’s eCommittee has announced that all Supreme Court Judgements will have “neutral citations”. The Chief Justice also showed his desire for the High Courts to follow neutral citations for their judgements.The benefit of these neutral citations would be that  a uniform pattern will be in place to cite all the judgements of Supreme Court and High Court.

CJI Chandrachud has remarked that all 30,000 judgements will have a neutral citation. He explained that the first tranche will be January 1, 2023, then the other tranche will be till judgements from 2014 and then finally it would go back to 1950 such that all judgements will have neutral citations. At present, Delhi, Kerala and Madras High Courts have neutral citations for their judgements.

A panel of three high court judges was also formed by the Supreme Court’s eCommittee to make a framework for draw up neutral citations for high courts and the Supreme Court and were asked to submit a report to the committee about the same. These included:

1)     Justice Rajiv Shakdher, Delhi High Court

2)     Justice Suraj Govind Raj, Karnataka High Court

3)     Justice Vijayaraghavan V, Kerala High Court

Ramesh Babu (member, eCommittee) was announced as the convener of the committee.

Another such recently worked upon initiative is the translation of judgements. In relation to this the CJI has remarked that “We are also translating all judgments in all languages. And we're using machine learning tools and that is being verified by a team of district judges. 2900 supreme court judgments are translated so far. Sometimes translations can be difficult. Because for example if we say "leave granted", it may literally translate to "avakash prapt ho gaya" so there is a team of district judges and law researchers assisting. The Supreme Court will be funding it all."

In concurrence with these sentiments and goals, A division bench of Delhi High Court comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad has delivered Hindi translations of judgements passed between January 1 and February 28. This move was aimed at helping the litigants to understand the judgements.Since the judgements have been translated only for the understanding of the litigants, a disclaimer has been shared saying that only English version of the judgement will be used in official work and that the translations cannot be used for any purpose other than the understanding of the litigants.These translations were done using an artificial intelligence tool called Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software (SUVAS). This tool is efficient in translating judgements in 9 vernacular languages. Another addition to this list is the Bombay High Court that has posted marathi translations to the Judgements.

Conclusively, while the pandemic acted like a catalyst for a few years in expediting the technological advancements of the legal system, the fire of technology is going to spread further solely because of convenience, expenditure reductions, inclusion and accessibility.