Virtual court tech here to stay, HC chief justices must fall in line: CJI Chandrachud
Virtual court technology is “here to stay for future, forever”, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said on Monday while hearing a plea which sought that virtual hearings be declared a fundamental right.
A visibly annoyed CJI said he was “really disturbed” by the attitude of certain high court chief justices who are disbanding technological infrastructure created by using public money. He said they cannot just switch off the cameras and microphones and insist on the physical presence of lawyers and litigants.
He said that chief justices of high courts, who have shut down online court hearings post-pandemic, are duty bound to “fall in line and come on board”, reminding that technology was not meant only for the pandemic but “is here to stay”.
Also read: Courts must reach out to people, tech must be augmented: CJI Chandrachud
‘No exceptions’
CJI Chandrachud, heading a three-judge bench, said, “I think all chief justices of high courts need to learn that they have to be on board. There are no exceptions.”
The bench also comprised Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala.
“Irrespective of whether a chief justice is technology friendly or not, this is not how you deal with public money. The public money has been spent, you have to ensure that the infrastructure is available…,” the CJI said.
“The other viewpoint is we judges come for physical hearing, so why should lawyers appear online! That begs the point — the conditions in which the judges come to work are very different from the conditions in which the Bar has to work,” said the CJI.
“The problem lies where you have chief justices who think technology is friendly. Other chief justices think the other way. I am going to ensure that everybody is in line. There’s no question of I like technology, I don’t, anymore. Everybody uses cell phones, you better use it. Likewise, this technological infrastructure has been provided using public funds…There are no exceptions,” CJI Chandrachud said.
Facilities for lawyers
When Bar Council of India Vice President, Advocate S Prabakaran, pointed out at difficulties in accessing technology in rural areas, the CJI said: “The answer is not to ban technology. The answer is to make technology available to the grassroots. Technology must reach out to every taluka court in the country. That’s why as part of phase III of the e-courts project, we are setting up e-seva kendras.” Lawyers who do not have access to the internet can go to the e-seva kendra and get all the facilities which are available, he said.
CJI Chandrachud said that the Parliamentary Committee had come to the SC — the first-time ever — when Justice N V Ramana was CJI. “It was very receptive… I made a presentation for almost three hours before the committee. This was the first time the committee came to the SC. CJI Ramana attended the meeting with me. We had detailed discussions. The committee made a very strong report on a plea for better funds to the judiciary. Now Rs 7,000 crore has been allocated to the judiciary. These funds are not for us personally., We are going to use them at the grassroots level. We will also say that the HC CJs need to look at it now to take this mission forward.”
