Indian Legal System
Using IT Judiciously While technology cannot get rid of the plagues of the system in its entirety, it can most certainly lessen it considerably
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stable and honest legal system forms the essence of democracy and competent jurisprudence. India’s mighty judicial structure may portray a deceptive façade of undamaged magnificence, though certain facts expose its many fallacies. While the constitution demands an elaborate legal setup, the stable foundations of it in India are beginning to show their weaknesses. With tribulations increasing, we are compelled to strive for a change and we must turn to
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DATAQUEST | A CyberMedia Publication
COVER STORY the one thing that is transcending at the seams—make use of information technology.
pages is essential in its own way, it can easily be avoided by developing online databases
Key Challenges
The Age of Information
The problems faced by the Indian legal system are many, however in this article, I will focus on certain key challenges constantly faced by the Judiciary. n Disorganized Filing: Dishonesty and corruption are far from being new concepts in India, leaving no field untouched and our legal system has no doubt been affected. Though such a structure prevails throughout the nation, the legal setup somehow suffers to a greater extent. The presence of middlemen in the guise of filing clerks and great amount of paperwork has made filing and tracking of cases a strenuous process. Majority of the lower judiciary in India functions on manual filings and recordkeeping which has led to a situation where pending cases can only be inordinately delayed at will. Electronic filing and a systematic, synchronized and chronologically recordkeeping can not only reduce corruption through exclusion of middlemen but will also result in a more expeditious disposal of cases n Transparency: The judiciary is plagued by the lack of transparency particularly in relation to day-to-day proceedings and of proposed action plan for clearing case arrears. Transparency of course shall find its way once access to relevant details is available to all. For example, the fact that a litigant or a third-party can access and be aware of reasons for delay in disposal of a particular case, will be an enough cause to spur an expeditious hearing and disposal of the case n The Environment: With carbon footprints increasing and the threat of climatic change looming largely over us, time has come to begin thinking of our environment. From courts to the offices of advocates, thousands of pages are wasted each day. While some may argue that the constant churning of
One such solution comes to us with the advent of information technology and its many forms. An e-committee was formulated by an office order dated December 28, 2004 by the Ministry of Law and Justice (Department of Justice) under the chairmanship of Dr Justice GC Bharuka, retired judge of the High Court of Karnataka with the objective of ‘Monitoring the Use of Information Technology and Administrative Reforms in the Indian Judiciary’. In October 2005, the committee formulated a national policy and an action plan for the implementation of information and communication technology in the Indian Judiciary and if efficiently implemented, the policy can make the Indian judiciary technologically self-sufficient. No doubt the primary problems faced by the litigant is due to the inexplicable inability of the Indian courts to apply modern techniques to the ancient methods of administering justice.
DATAQUEST | A CyberMedia Publication
WHILE THE OPTION OF MANUAL FILINGS CANNOT BE COMPLETELY DONE AWAY WITH AT THIS STAGE, EVERY COURT INCLUDING THE LOWER COURTS, SHOULD HAVE THE OPTION TO MAKE ELECTRONIC FILING OF PLEADINGS
The Key to Our Problems n E-filing: Immediate steps should be taken towards making all court filings in electronic mode. While the option of manual filings cannot be completely done away with at this stage, every court including the lower courts, should have the option to make electronic filing of pleadings. Further, all ongoing and new cases and filings, irrespective of their filing mode and court orders therein should be electronically catalogued and uploaded on a publicly accessible database. In this way, filings will not only become simpler but also the cases can be easily tracked and proceedings monitored. The e-filing method has already had its inception in the Supreme Court and optimism gives us enough cause to believe that others shall pursue it. This e-filing will not only avoid unnecessary conveyance visit www.dqindia.com
July 15, 2011 | 55
COVER STORY
Indian Legal System THE LEGAL CURRICULUM SHOULD MANDATORILY INCLUDE THE STUDY OF LEGAL DATA MANAGEMENT AND THE USE OF A COMPUTERIZED DATABASE AS IT’S OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE TO HAVE THE NEW GENRE COMPLETELY PREPARED AND TUNED-IN
of advocates but also aid the litigants to be updated on their case status and developments in real-time n Numeric Categorization: Innumerable is perhaps the only word that can describe the number of undecided cases, still pending in India’s courts. Most Indian courts specially in the non-metropolitan city, lower judiciary has manual record registers commonly known as ‘balance sheets’ which record the case numbers and next dates of all the cases pending in the court. Manually recorded, these registers are not only inaccurate they often enough lead to a situation wherein both the court staff and litigants spend a large amount of time reviewing the registers and tracking their case files as opposed to focusing on the proceedings The chaos can be avoided by electronically recording the filings and categorizing cases—in accordance with filing year, applicable legislations, last date of hearing, etc. The National Informatics Center has already developed the necessary software which incidentally is used by the Apex Court and most State High Courts. However it’s high time that the technology percolates to all levels of the judiciary. n Video Conferencing: Video conferencing is yet another example of the use of IT in the legal system. In the famous Telgi case (Abdul Karim Telgi @ Lala @ Karim Lala, Abdul Wahid and Jacob Chackoo @ Thomas Vs State rep. by Inspector of Police, Central Bureau of Investigation - 2008 Cri LJ 532), it had become almost impossible 56 | July 15, 2011
to produce Telgi in every court hearing, for he had cases pending across the country. Each of his cases had been consolidated and were tried in Delhi, while Telgi himself was detained in Pune, using video conferencing for recording his statements. The Ratio Decidendi in this case clearly reads, ‘Recording of evidence by accused by video-conferencing is constitutional’ n Online Database: One should draw an example from the online legal library—now so easily accessible, to remind oneself of the man-hours saved in researching and reviewing reported cases. Gone are the days of looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, now lawyers can not only efficiently research but also bring on the much needed value on the table by giving the timely advise which was either earlier illusive or belated
The Struggle Ahead We find ourselves today at the advantageous end of the information technology boom. While technology cannot get rid of the plagues of the system in its entirety, it can most certainly lessen it considerably. To obtain the desired result of an independent, effective and expeditious judiciary, the need and benefits of information technology have to be expounded with greater vigor. The legal curriculum should mandatorily include the study of legal data management and the use of a computerized database as it’s of critical importance to have the new genre completely prepared and tuned-in. n visit www.dqindia.com
DILJEET TITUS WITH ABHIXIT SINGH The authors are advocates, Titus & Co. maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in DATAQUEST | A CyberMedia Publication