Mar 12, 2023, 11:50 am
The CJI was addressing the event “Smart Courts and the Future of Judiciary” as part of the 18th meeting of the chief justices of the Supreme Courts of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in New Delhi on Saturday
Technology must be used by the judiciary to reach out to citizens and provide justice as an essential service, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said on Saturday.
The CJI was addressing the event “Smart Courts and the Future of Judiciary” as part of the 18th meeting of the chief justices of the Supreme Courts of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in New Delhi on Saturday.
With the Centre recently sanctioning funds for the third phase of the e-Courts project, CJI Chandrachud said that “the e-Courts has been a dedicated endeavour towards envisioning a futuristic judiciary” with a focus to build an accessible, efficient, and transparent judicial system.
As the first and second phases created the necessary digital infrastructure at the local level, the third phase will simplify procedures to increase access for citizens to the justice delivery system, CJI said. “All e-initiatives shall also be governed by a data protection framework and sensitive to privacy concerns,” he added.
The CJI said, “There is now a global consensus that justice is not merely a ‘sovereign function’ but an ‘essential service’. Accordingly, our design of smart courts must reflect this shift, and technology be used as an important enabler to reach out to the citizens and provide justice as an essential service.”
CJI underscored the need for the judicial system to ensure timely and effective justice for everyone. “With that objective in mind, it has become imperative that we use technology to bridge the gap between citizens and the justice system by reaching out to them,” he added.
While the Covid-19 pandemic left a deep imprint on the world, it provided an opportunity to fundamentally transform our justice servicing mechanism to increase judicial efficiency, access to justice, and social justice, the CJI added.