Supreme Court judge urges HC to explore e-court services at village level

Highlighting the technological divide between those who have access to internet and the rest, he said the judiciary cannot tell the have-nots that it could not serve them. “Therefore, the SC e-committee has taken upon itself to ensure that there are e-Seva Kendras in every court complex in India, since this is the only way to reach out to common citizens,” he said.

He urged the Madras High Court e-committee to explore whether e-court services could be provided at the gram panchayats/village levels. The National Judicial Data Grid has now been opened to include statistics from the High Courts and district judiciary, he said, adding that the statistics could be used for a 360-degree assessment of judicial officers and the extent to which the courts were able to incorporate information and communication technology.

Noting how lands were offered as security, he called for linkage between land record registries and courts, which would enable judges to see the nature of encumbrances on a particular land, whether it was available for security, etc., he said. The e-Courts website would soon be available in 22 languages to take it to ordinary citizens, Justice Chandrachud added.

Madras High Court Chief Justice AP Sahi delivered the key-note address while Justices TS Sivagananam and Pushpa Sathyanarayana also spoke.