J&K HC Constitutes 5 Member Committee To Examine E-Connectivity Issues At The HC [Read Order]

The Committee led by Home Secretary of the J&K Government, Shaleen Kabra, shall undertake an audit of the facilities and infrastructure at the High Court and submit its report before the Chairperson of IT Committee of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir for his consideration.

On July 14, the division bench comprised of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Sanjay Dhar had expressed "extreme difficulty" in hearing the counsels via video conferencing.

"We have struggled to have virtual/or audio connectivity with the amicus curiae and the several counsels appearing before us. Even the learned Advocate General has expressed grave difficulty in joining the hearing," the bench had remarked.

'Access To Justice A Fundamental Right': J&K HC Summons Home Secretary Over E-Connectivity Issues

This prompted the Court to summon Home Secretary, Mr. Kabra. During the course of hearing on July 16, Mr. Kabra suggested that an audit needs to be first undertaken of the facilities which are in existence at the High Court and those which are required to be urgently added, to fully understand the issue.

Poor connectivity at the High Court, he pointed out, could be due to:

• leaseline issues;
• needs of enhancement of lease line bandwidth;
• optimal utilization of the softwares,
• distribution of bandwidth amongst different users which has not been optimally effected;
• misuse of the available bandwidth.

Based on his submissions, the bench has constituted a Committee consisting of Mr. Kabra himself, who shall be the Chairperson of the Committee, along with:

1. Shahzad Azeem, Registrar (IT), J&K High Court
2. Abhay Kumar, SIO, NIC, J&K
3. Sanjeev Tyagi, Nodal Officer, BSNL, J&K
4. Director, National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), Jammu or an expert to be nominated by him from NIELIT

All the members of the Committee have been asked to appear before the Court via video conferencing on the next date of hearing, i.e., July 23, 2020.

Case Details:

Case Title: Court on its Own Motion v. Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir

Case No.: WP(C) PIL no. 5/2020

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