Access to Justice For Indian Marginalised People

This is the updated version of my previous article on similar topic. This article focuses on strengthened access to justice in India for poor and marginalised segments of India. At the same time it also provides information and communication technology (ICT) related means and methods so that easy and cost effective justice to the poor and marginalised in India can be ensured. This can be done by inculcating appropriate skill development, especially e-courts skill development capabilities, to lawyers and judges of India.

Another crucial aspect is that e-courts in India can make Indian judicial system more transparent and user friendly. Although e-courts project of India has been launched as a mission mode project under the national e-governance plan (NEGP) of India, it has failed to materialise so far. Despite spending crores of money, we are still waiting for the establishment of first e-court of India.

Of late, the Law Minister Mr. Veerappa Moily has been very active in suggesting judicial reforms in India. They are very good reforms and if implemented in a timely manner would drastically reforms the judicial system of India. Indian judicial system needs a complete overhaul.

However, there are grey areas as well. Take the mobile train courts scenario. A better result could have been achieved through e-courts by not even leaving the court or chamber of a judge or lawyer. The extra costs and manpower could be saved by a good e-court model.

The problem seems to be lack of expertise and skill development initiatives to establish and manage effective e-courts in India. There is just a single techno-legal e-courts training, research and consultancy centre in the entire world. It is managed by Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB), the premier techno legal segment of exclusive techno legal ICT law firm Perry4Law. Fortunately, the same is an Indian centre and the same can be handy while inculcating techno-legal ICT skills among judges, lawyers, court staffs, etc.

Of course, appropriate training is required before the judges, lawyers, court staff, etc can actively use e-courts. Even that aspect has been taken care of by the online platform of PTLB. The judges, lawyers, etc can learn about important techno-legal fields like cyber law, cyber security, cyber forensics, telecommunications laws, e-courts, etc even while sitting in their respective chambers. Further, training in the area of online dispute resolution (ODR) is also available. We hope Law Minister Moily would consider these initiatives while bringing suitable legal and judicial reforms in India.

Skill Development For E-Courts Of India

E-courts in India can make Indian laws and judiciary more transparent and user friendly. Although e-courts project of India has been launched as a mission mode project under the national e-governance plan (NEGP) of India, it has failed to materialise so far. Despite spending crores of money, we are still waiting for the establishment of first e-court of India.

According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi base techno legal ICT law firm Perry4Law and CEO of India’s exclusive e-courts training and consultancy centre of India, E-Courts in India have still to see the light of the day. India is still at the first stage of Computerisation of some of the aspects of Courts. Full fledged E-Filling, Submission of Plaints and Documents Online, Online Evidence Producing, etc are still missing, informs Dalal.

Surprisingly there is no dearth of funds for the successful implementation of e-courts project of India. So what is the cause of this failure of e-court project of India? The answer seems to be lack of techno legal expertise to manage this ambitious project. Skill development in India is missing and this is more so regarding the e-courts skill development in India. In the absence of adequate skills, e-court project would never succeed.

Another reason for the failure of e-court project of India in general and Indian judicial system in particular is that judicial e-infrastructure of India also needs rejuvenation. Presently essential capabilities like e-filing, presentation, contest and adjudication of the cases in an online environment, etc are missing and India is just stressing upon “mere computerisation” with no actual work towards establishment of e-courts. E-courts services in India are an altogether different ball game that Indian courts and Indian government are not capable of playing with their existing capabilities and skills.

There are many future challenges that e-courts project of India would face. Without proper e-courts skill development in India, e-courts project is bound to fail. The techno legal skill development training and courses of Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) can go a long way in bringing necessary skills for the successful implementation of e-courts project of India.

E-Courts Infrastructure Of India Needs Rejuvenation

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the Union Budget for the Financial Year 2011-12 in Parliament on Monday. He also sanctioned around Rs 1000 Crore to judiciary for establishment of e-courts.

This is welcome step as Indian judiciary, especially subordinate judiciary, is suffering severely from lack of physical infrastructure in general and e-courts infrastructure in particular. The judicial e-infrastructure of India needs urgent reforms and overhaul.

Establishment of e-courts in India was originally conceived in 2003. However, we do not have a single e-court in India till the month of February 2011. Of course, some productive and effective computerisation initiatives have been undertaken by Indian judiciary. However, these initiatives are far from satisfactory and definitely not enough for the successful establishment of e-courts all over India.

Now the judiciary has enough financial resources, so there would be no money crunch as well. But would India get its first e-court in the year 2011? This is a big question that cannot be answered easily.

If we keep in mind the past performance and the year 2003 as the beginning, this seems to be a too ambitious claim. This is so for at least two reasons.

Firstly, we do have a legal enablement of ICT systems in India. Till a legal framework conducive for techno legal development of Indian judiciary is not established, legal and judicial systems of India have little incentives to adopt technology.

Secondly, the techno legal expertise needed for the sufficient completion of e-courts project of India is missing. India has a single techno legal e-courts research, training and consultancy centre that is managed by Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB).

India needs more such techno legal e-courts centers so that e-court project of India may be successful. Till now the e-court centre of PTLB is not extending its expertise to the e-courts project of India. This may be one of the reasons why establishment of e-courts in India failed to materialise.

Law Minister Veerappa Moily must urgently take some effective steps so that there is a good team of techno legal experts who can successfully implement the e-court project. The present institutional framework adopted by the Supreme Court of India lacks this expertise and the e-courts committee must actively seek services of techno legal experts in general and institutions like PTLB in particular.

E-Courts In India Still A Dream

Indian courts are suffering from many drawbacks. These include lack of infrastructure, inadequate strength of judges to handle growing cases, increasing backlog of cases, inadequate use of information and communication technology (ICT) for judicial purposes in India, etc.

Some very good computerisation initiatives were undertaken by Indian government and Supreme Court of India in the past. However, none of them are even closer to the establishment of e-courts in India. Naturally, we are still waiting for the establishment of first e-court of India.

On the other hand, it is clear that will of selective few individuals can also bring much needed legal and judicial reforms in India. For instance, a division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna has ensured early release of undertrials and accused who are granted bail by directing all Delhi courts as well as its own officials to e-mail a copy of bail orders to Tihar jail authorities within 24 hours of being pronounced. This is how legal and judicial reforms are undertaken.

The major obstacle before the successful completion of e-courts project of India is that the project is just an “institutional effort” on behalf of Supreme Court of India. For some strange reasons expertise of techno legal institutions and experts has still not been requested by the e-court project of India.

At the institutional level, e-court project is bound to fails as there is no techno legal expertise present there. This is the reason why despite the national e-governance plan (NEGP) of India being launched, it has largely remained a failure to bring legal enablement of ICT systems in India.

India has a single techno legal e-courts research, training and consultancy centre that is managed by exclusive techno legal firm of India Perry4Law. The e-court centre is managed by the premier techno legal segment of Perry4Law known as Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB).

India needs more such techno legal e-courts centers so that e-court project of India may be successful. Till now the e-court centre of PTLB is not extending its expertise to the e-courts project of India.

Hopefully, Ministry of Law and Justice would consider taking techno legal services of PTLB and similar institutions so that e-courts may see the light of the day.