'E-Filing Stations In Every District Will Help To Overcome The Digital Divide; Orissa HC Chief Justice S.Muralidhar

Speaking at the launch of the Orissa High Court Digitisation Centre, Paperless Court, e-Filing Stations for Advocates, Hands-on Training for Judicial officers on conducting Virtual hearing and Hands-on Training on e-Services for the Advocates, Chief Justice S. Muralidhar dwelled on each of the initiatives being inaugurated on Saturday.The e-facilities of the High Court were inaugurated by Justice D. Y. Chandrachud.Hands-On Training For The Bar"We have been having training for lawyers. We started with the High Court Bar Association and then I have been travelling to the districts. This came out of the suggestion from the bar themselves. They kept reminding us of the possible digital divide and how all lawyers may not have access to facilities, and therefore may not be able to participate in all initiatives that we are taking, particularly the initiatives of the E-committee of the Supreme Court. That led to the next step of making sure that the lawyers actually get to do the e-filing. That is what has led to the setting up of the e-filing station in the High Court. My idea is to replicate these e-filing stations at least one in every district bar association. I hope to achieve this vision in a few months' time. It helps the lawyer to know that he can come to a place in the court where he can be guided as to how to do e-filing", elaborated the judge.He expressed the desire that after a while, they want the bar to take the onus of all the training- "Their own trainers will train other lawyers in the bar. We are tapping into the young energy of the bar. The younger lawyers are expected to come forward and share their knowledge with the other members of the bar. This way it will be a faster spread of awareness of all initiatives that we are launching. We are looking at a greater participation of every lawyer at all levels in the Orissa legal system"The CJ also expressed his gratitude for the contributions towards the hands-on training of Delhi High Court judge, Justice Talwant Singh, who was attending the event. CJ Muralidhar commended how even as a district judge, Justice Singh was one of the pioneers in holding paperless courts and dealing in e-documents, insisting on e-filing of challans and charge sheets in his court.VC Cabins"We are having VC cabins not only in the High Court but also in the other district courts because we are aware that not all lawyers have good connectivity to appear from wherever they are", told CJ Muralidhar.The CJ also expressed how they are very proud of an Additional District Judge in Orissa who, even without any prompting from the High Court, has been recording testimonies of witnesses through video conferencing. "This only shows that there is a lot of young talent and energy at all levels, both in the bar and in the district judiciary, which we need to tap into, channelise and it will be so essential for us to carry this whole project of virtual court hearings and virtual recording of evidence forward", said the CJPaperless CourtsIn the context of the Chief Justice's court in the Orissa High Court going paperless, CJ Muralidhar (hailing from the Delhi High Court) narrated how the Delhi High Court has had paperless courts for 10 years now."It was a huge learning experience. Every judge in the Delhi High Court is able to have the paperless court. COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated that change. In fact, the pandemic has made it necessary for the entire legal system to get on board much quicker than we expected. So the transition which was happening gradually has now suddenly become quick and all we are doing here is catching up, building upon the past experience, past knowledge and past initiatives and we are adding value to it with our own learning and capabilities", he said.Record Room Digitisation Centre"This again is building upon past learning. We have already initiated record digitisation in the 4 major districts and Orissa. It has become a necessity. With more and more space that we need at all levels for the storage of all legal records, we thought we cannot delay this initiative for even a short while. We have this wonderful building, with the assistance of the state government, where we have been able to have a modern record room. We have combined this with shortening the retention time for some original records in various kinds of matters. We have also made sure that it is a seamless process – preservation of records, sending it for scanning, verification, returning back to the record room; it is like an assembly line. We are trying to modernise it", told the CJ.

'E-Filing Stations In Every District Will Help To Overcome The Digital Divide; Orissa HC Chief Justice S.Muralidhar

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