Supreme Court judge Justice BR Gavai was present at the Kerala High Court today to inaugurate various digital initiatives.
Justice Gavai inaugurated the Country’s first exclusive Digital Court for Negotiable Instruments Act Cases in Kollam. Other digital initiatives of the Kerala High Court are : Online Dispute Resolution System, Model Digital Court Room concept, Learning Management System of the Judicial Academy, Digital Library and Research Centre, restoration project of Ram Mohan Palace and the announcement of Digital District Courts.
The Digital Court for Negotiable Instrument Act Cases is an initiative to reduce the pendency of cases under Section 138 of the NI Act of cheque dishonour cases. The idea is to launch ’24*7 ON Courts’ (Open and Networked) that enable integration, participation and collaboration. This would enable the transferring of requisite documents by the litigants to other agencies. It would enable litigants to track the progress of their cases and thus integrate the whole process.
Justice Gavai said that the Digital Courts for NI Act cases would reduce the pendency of cheque dishonour cases by connecting banks and police stations through a common system which will help to reduce the pendency of cheque dishonour cases.
In his inaugural address, Justice B R Gavai stated that providing justice to all with speed and affordability is imperative to achieve social and economic justice enshrined in the Constitution. He stated that technological innovations would ensure that social and economic justice is provided to all citizens, along with political justice to truly deliver access to justice for all.
“Justice should not be denied to a person on account of his incapacity to pay a lawyer. Also, justice should not be denied to him because of his geographical limitations, he can’t reach the higher courts. And we have seen that on account of the invention of technology, even a lawyer sitting in the remotest part of the country, can directly appear before the Supreme Court and argue. I am sure that these inventions would also help in providing easy and affordable justice to the last citizen of this country. So, our dream of social and economic justice along with political justice is realized.”
During his address, he recollected Dr.Ambedkar’s speech and said :
“I recollect the speech of Dr. Ambedkar on 25th of November, 1949 when he was speaking while replying to the debate on the final draft of the Constitution. And he said in his speech that in the pollical plane, we have achieved political equality, political justice by providing for one person, one value and one vote. But what about economic and social justice, and inequality? Your society on a social plane is compartmentalized into tight compartments. The person cannot travel from one compartment to another. On the economic plane, we have a society where the entire wealth of the country is concentrated in a few hands whereas the vast majority find it difficult to have 2 meals a day. Therefore, he warned us that we must make every possible effort to eradicate this inequality. And if we don’t do so then the edifice of democracy which we have built would collapse.”
Justice Gavai shared his experience of using technological innovations for the first time after the COVID-19 lockdown period He stated that the Supreme Court started to conduct virtual hearings within 48 hours of the lockdown. Justice Gavai emphasized that technology became a saviour and provided relief to access to justice for millions of citizens who would have been otherwise denied justice due to Covid-19.
“ And I must say with a sense of pride, during that period, when there was a complete gloomy picture, the Supreme Court as well as the various High Courts in the country were in a position to impart justice to billions of people in the country. They responded wherever there was violation of fundamental rights. I recollect we were monitoring when sitting in the Covid, various issues related to violation of rights which related to providing of necessary medical facilities in the state. Subsequently as all of you are aware when Justice Chandrachud, as His Lordship then was, had dealt with a Public Interest Litigation, that too virtually with regard to supply of oxygen to various States. And therefore, this technology provided solace to the millions of Indian citizens who otherwise would have been deprived of the right to access to justice.”
Justice Gavai stated that artificial intelligence is used to translate Supreme Court judgments to vernacular languages for the common people to understand. He mentioned that the system is for the litigants and it is imperative that they understand the judgments by reading it in their own languages.
Justice Gavai also mentioned his personal experience of benefitting from technological innovations by being able to access and read case files on his tablet during travelling.
Acting Chief Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque speaking about the digital District Court said that the idea is to decongest the Trial Courts after the enactment of new criminal laws.
“The idea behind establishing digital courts is to decongest traditional courts which deal with session cases and trials. After the new enactments, all session trials can take place only in a District Court led by a District Judge. So all the trials now will be moved to District Courts. So we want to decongest the trial court and have a separation. So they want to free up all those courts. These courts will focus on appeals and revision without any territorial barrier. Any lawyer from any part of the district can appear and argue the cases.”
Further, Justice Mustaque stated that the Model Digital Court Rooms would create a digital ambience for the lawyers and enable everyone to understand about the nuances of using technology in courtrooms.
Supreme Court judges Justices Rajesh Bindal and CT Ravikumar, High Court judges Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Raja Vijayaraghavan, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala Finance Minster KN Balagopal, Law Minister P Rajeeve, Advocate General K Gopalakrishna Kurup, were also present at the event.
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