Tuesday, March 6, 2012

E-Delivery Of Justice In India Needed

Electronic delivery of justice in India has failed to achieve what was desired. From 2003 to 2012 we have failed to establish e-courts in India. Till March 2012 we are still waiting for the establishment of first e-court of India. So for all practical purposes establishment of e-courts in India is still a distant dream.

E-Courts in India are still in the first stage of computerisation in some of the aspects of the courts. Full fledged e-filing, submission of plaints and documents online, online evidence producing, etc. are still missing. Although the e-governance initiatives such as e-filing at Supreme Court, online case status, online judgments and online case lists have begun, yet the e-court initiative still has a long way to go.

The constitutional right to speedy trail is still a dream in India and speedy justice through e-courts is at most a fiction in India. Right to a speedy trial is contained in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. It mandates a speedier and timely disposal of a case. Presently, India is facing a mammoth backlog of cases that can be reduced drastically by use of ICT and e-courts. The efforts for the establishment of e-courts in India are not sufficient and needs rejuvenation.

This is happening because the legislature and executive are not versed with the litigation and the legal fraternity is never consulted while making techno-legal laws. Even firms and individuals who can deal in e-courts related projects are limited in number. For instance, Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) is managing the exclusive techno legal e-courts training and consultancy centre of India. There is no other e-courts training and consultancy centre in India and even abroad.

India has taken nine years and still e-courts have not been established. Time has come to take e-courts project of India seriously and start working in this direction.

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