700 courts to get web-connectivity

In a significant step to dispose the backlog of 2.75 crore cases in country's district and subordinate courts, 700 new courts are set to be computerised with web-connectivity by next month as part of a law and justice ministry-supported project.

"The allocation of laptops to 700 new judicial officers for digital connectivity will be completed within a month," said Justice Gopi Chand Bharuka, chairman of the e-committee overseeing the five-year plan to computerise all courts for speedy disposal of cases.

He said the provision for e-connectivity in 700 courts would be in addition to the facility in 12,155 courts which have already started working online.

"One of our objective is to enable judicial officers access judgements of the Supreme Court, high courts and even international courts at a click of a button and speed up their research work for a judgement, thus, improving the rate of case disposal," he said.

For the common litigant, the e-courts project is likely to lend greater transparency to judiciary, along with speedy disposal of cases.

"With web-connectivity, the moment a judicial officer passes a judgement it will automatically get uploaded on the national judicial website `www.indianjudiciary.in.' A litigant need not wait outside courts for their copy of a judgement," said Bharuka.