Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNationJudiciary must use Technology to reach out to citizens: CJI

Judiciary must use Technology to reach out to citizens: CJI


Technology must be used by the judiciary to reach out to citizens and provide justice as an essential service, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said on Saturday.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud (File Photo)

The CJI was addressing the event “Smart Courts and the Future of Judiciary” as part of the 18th meeting of the chief justices of the Supreme Courts of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in New Delhi on Saturday.

With the Centre recently sanctioning funds for the third phase of the e-Courts project, CJI Chandrachud said that “the e-Courts has been a dedicated endeavour towards envisioning a futuristic judiciary” with a focus to build an accessible, efficient, and transparent judicial system.

As the first and second phases created the necessary digital infrastructure at the local level, the third phase will simplify procedures to increase access for citizens to the justice delivery system, CJI said. “All e-initiatives shall also be governed by a data protection framework and sensitive to privacy concerns,” he added.

Also Read: ‘Judiciary must not wait for another pandemic to…’: CJI DY Chandrachud

The CJI said, “There is now a global consensus that justice is not merely a ‘sovereign function’ but an ‘essential service’. Accordingly, our design of smart courts must reflect this shift, and technology be used as an important enabler to reach out to the citizens and provide justice as an essential service.”

CJI underscored the need for the judicial system to ensure timely and effective justice for everyone. “With that objective in mind, it has become imperative that we use technology to bridge the gap between citizens and the justice system by reaching out to them,” he added.

While the Covid-19 pandemic left a deep imprint on the world, it provided an opportunity to fundamentally transform our justice servicing mechanism to increase judicial efficiency, access to justice, and social justice, the CJI added.

Court processes such as e-filing and e-payment of court fees have been enabled for citizens in the remotest corners of the country through a network of nearly 4 lakh common service centres which are like a one-stop centre to provide the e-Courts services.

Due to the digital divide in India, which felt deeply during the pandemic, CJI said that the e-Courts project’s first two phases set up the infrastructure to ensure technological initiatives do not exclude anyone.

Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph of the Supreme Court of India are also attending the three-day event that began Friday.

Also Read: Pakistan skips Shanghai Cooperation Organisation chief justice meet hosted by India

The SCO was created in 2001 based on the “Shanghai five” formed after the signing by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia and Tajikistan. The main goal of SCO is to strengthen mutual trust, friendship and good neighbourliness, encouraging effective cooperation in several areas among the member states.

The first SCO Chief Justices meeting was held on 22 September 2006 in Shanghai (People’s Republic of China). Last year, the Presidents of the Supreme Courts of the SCO member states met in Dushanbe. India assumed the rotational presidency of the SCO for a year in September 2022 through the Samarkand declaration last year.

Besides India, SCO member states include China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia constitute the SCO observers while Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, and Nepal are the SCO dialogue partners.



Source link

RELATED ARTICLES

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisment -

Most Popular

Recent Comments