ITs Justified

Taareekh pe taareekhthis is how Bollywood movies have often portrayed our
judicial system. This is, apparently, not so much to do with masala stuff, and
is actually closer to reality. One would be taken aback by the whopping number
of pending cases in Indian courts. The Supreme Court of India alone has almost
53,000 pending cases as on July 2009 (source: PRS Legislative Research). The
dismal figures of 40 lakh cases that are pending in the High Courts of India,
and more than 2.7 crore cases pending in the lower courts of India are not at
all encouraging. This is the sad state of affairs in the highest platform of
justice. Estimates say that to solve these cases, it would take as many as 300
years! Quite obviously, one would never see the face of justice, at least not in
ones own lifetime.

The Indian judicial system comprises approximately 15,000 courts across the
length and breadth of the country. The Supreme Court of India being the apex
body and the High Courts, District Courts and Lok Adalats at the state, district
and village/panchayat level respectively form the Indian judiciary. The system
is shaped in a to uphold the article 21 of the Indian constitution that gives
every citizen of India the right to speedy trial.

Speedy Trial?

Its already evident from the number of pending cases that justice never
comes in time in our land; leave alone in a speedy manner. What is it that has
marred the third pillar of our democracy? The judicial system in India, today,
is faced with problems of lack of transparency, delay in decision-making,
massive paper work, limited courts, delay in listing, to name a few. A walk down
the corridors of any of the courts in India shows the piles and reams of paper
files that are stacked in these rooms. And at times these comprise almost full
rooms of paper! All this meansdelayed justice. The saying, justice delayed is
justice denied perfectly fits into this great Indian drama.

The Powerhouse

ICT can be a big catalyst in transforming this scenario. It has proven its worth
in other public delivery systems in India, the Indian Railways being one of the
top scorers. The computerization process of the Indian courts started way back
in the 90s. The drive taking off first in the Supreme Court of India has now
percolated down to the metro and capital city courts. The year 2007 saw the
implementation of phase-I of the computerization of district and subordinate
courts, which cost about Rs 442 crore. The national e-governance plan (NeGP) has
bigger plans in the form of e-courts which is one of its mission mode projects (MMPs).
Under this, there are plans to link 15,000 courts in the country in three
phases. Most of these courts are already connected through the state wide area
network (SWAN) which is being implemented in various states and union
territories of the country. Speaking in a recent seminar on ICT in Judicial
Reforms, Tanmay Chakrabarty, vice president, TCS said, "Application of ICT is
not like instant coffee. It implies an entire process of preparation,
enablement, and transformation."

ICT can prove to be a ready answer to many of the problems plaguing the
Indian judiciary. Online registrations, digitization of paper, e-manuals for
citizens, SMS/email applications are some of the things that ICT can help
provide. Time-to-travel of file petitions, the amount of resources spent in
police personnel are some of the things that ICT can address. This, in turn,
would bring in savings in terms of time as well as resources. The Supreme Court
of India already has a system in place, whereby citizens can file petitions
online through its website. However, there is still a long way to go, as most of
the websites of the Indian courts are information based. There is an urgent need
to go beyond this, and make it a government to citizen (G2C) delivery platform.
Chakrabarty, said, "The 100,000 CSCs, that are set to be rolled out across the
country, can become a potential gateway for citizens to file petitions online as
well as provide other judicial services." Moreover, the $60 mn ICT Indian
industry is a powerhouse for bringing in change at the grassroots.

M Veerappa Moily, Minister for Law and Justice said, "I will ensure that
justice for the pending cases comes within a timeframe of three years. And ICT
will play a pivotal role in this transformation." With such zeal and enthusiasm
coming from the minister himself, justice does not seem to be a faraway dream.
He further added that ICT can be a key in transforming the system, and fighting
corruption too. He also informed that a National Mission for Judicial Reforms
will be launched soon and ICT will play an important role in it.

Though ICT has the potential to transform the system, there are challenges,
especially to do with the mindset of the people. It means not only educating
people about the benefits of ICT, but also educating the law officials at
various levels. This is often termed as e-readiness in e-governance parlance.
There is a reluctance to change, especially from older generation of officials
who are used to a particular way of working. Making them abreast with the
benefits of ICT is a big challenge. PK Malhotra, additional secretary, Ministry
of Law and Justice said, "Passing on the buck is well known among government
officials, and this is a challenge that is faced in the judicial system as well.
It results in delay in the decision-making process."

Planning the Future

Under the e-court project, 12,840 laptops had been supplied to judges and
over 9,000 of them were provided with Internet facility. The courts were
connected with two to six servers along with a laptop, a scanner, and a printer.
The phase-II of the project aims at bringing videoconferencing, whereby victims
and witnesses would be produced through it. All notices and summons of higher
courts will be sent electronically and digitally signed orders and judgments
would be available on net. Videoconferencing is already being implemented in
some of the places. Under the Bihar jail project, fifty-three jails were
connected through videoconferencing on a real-time basis. The Haryana prisons
were modernized on similar lines too. Moreover, the e-courts projects will
further bring in a system, whereby the number of pending cases will be
calculated electronically and it will assign cases to judges. It will store
digital transcripts of evidence which will be tamperproof, and also a monitoring
system will be in place. With the Ministry of Law and Justice planning to invest
Rs 890 crore in improving IT infrastructure and capacity building for judicial
reforms, the future seems bright. Moily had also proposed a centrally funded
National Judicial Technology Program (NJTP) that would be implemented down to
the district court level. It would be a prime driver in reducing historical
inefficiencies of the system.

Some of the global best practices, when it comes to delivery of judicial
system, are from countries like Singapore, Argentina, the US, and Mexico.
Singapore is one of the best examples of speedy trails through its hi-tech
courts and online proceedings. The Singaporean courts have world-class
technologies in place. They have digital transcription system, electronic queue
management system, electronic signage system to name a few. Moreover, they have
an array of services through their website that provides ready access to court
proceedings, and judgments. India needs to learn from these countries for the
effective implementation of the e-judiciary system.

Implementing ICT to reform the judiciary is more of a question of approach.
It has to deal with the processes of re-engineering the entire system for better
delivery of services. Paperless courts, digital libraries, online filing, and
videoconferencing are small yet big steps in this regard. We hope that these
grand plans see the light of the day, and this transformation enables the three
As of ICTaccess, affordability, and accountabilityin its true sense. Result:
a speedy and fast trial!

Nilakshi Barooah

nilakshib@cybermedia.co.in