Context :
Basic
right of citizens to know what goes on in the courts: SC judge /
HT / 24 Oct
2021
Extract :
It is a basic right of citizens to know what goes on in the courts of the country, justice Dhananjaya Y
Chandrachud said on Saturday, as the Supreme Court judge underlined the
importance of live-streaming judicial
proceedings in the interest of
transparency and accountability.
“We have formulated live-streaming
rules so that cases can be live-streamed...
the hearings before a court can be live-streamed for the rest of the country.
Because I do believe that citizens are entitled to know what goes on in the courts.
They are entitled to know why cases are adjourned. They are entitled to know whether
judges sit from morning till evening in
deciding cases. It is the basic right of the citizens to know,” emphasised
justice Chandrachud.
Stressing the need to digitise the court records, including orders,
judgments and filings, justice Chandrachud said that the Phase 3 document of e-courts project is
going to focus on digitisation of 3,100 crore court documents while simultaneously laying emphasis
on e-filing of cases.
The judge added that the government being the largest
litigant in India, he has written to all high court chief justices recently
that by January, 2022, all cases of the Centre and state
governments must be e-filed in district courts and high courts. “Let the government of India and state governments make
the beginning,” appealed justice Chandrachud.
“ Sitting in the Supreme Court, you are confronted with
the extent of justice and the extent of injustice all over the country when
citizens come to us. A convict who has been in prison for 35 years has not been
released, an under-trial who is in jail for 12 years and against whom charges
have not been framed. These are some of the realities of the Indian judiciary
which we have to confront,” he pointed out.
===================================================
Dear Hon Shri Chandrachudji,
At the outset,
Congratulations on your game-changing initiative, based on :
“ Justice Delayed
is Justice Denied “
Of course, in the
implementation, there will be many hurdles, which include :
Ø Non-availability of resources ( funds ) for installing Video/CCTV
Surveillance Systems, in thousands of court-rooms
Ø Non-availability of IT experts who can train, not only thousands of
judges / court officers / lawyers / solicitors etc but also train / educate
millions of litigants
Ø Changing the “ Attitudes “ of all of the above-mentioned people
to embrace the proposed changes whole-heartedly and desist from “ sabotaging “ this reform which might “ expose “ their current / undesirable delaying practices , which serve their personal vested interests but does not serve the interest of
speedy / transparent justice
In this context, I
urge you to look up my following earlier emails :
24x7
e-Courts ?..................................................[14 Apr 2021 ]
Justice at Warp Speed ? …………………………………………..[06 Mar 2012 ]
Supreme improves upon “ AdJourn “ ? ……………………[21 Dec 2017 ]
Justice delayed is Justice Denied ……………………………..[12 Sept 2018 ]
Congratulations, Hon CJI , Shri S A Bobdeji ……………….[ 07 Dec 2019 ]
AI come to judgement ? Not for a while ! …………………….[ 17 Dec 2019 ]
See You Out of Court ……………………………………………………..[ 11 Jan 2020 ]
Law : Nothing Artificial in Arbitration………………………………[ 16 Feb 2020 ]
This is no joke – just acceptance of Inevitable !............[ 02 Nov 2020 ]
Live Streaming of Court Proceedings ……………………………..[ 09 Nov 2020 ]
Supreme Surveillance Solution ? …………………………………… [ 05 Dec 2020 ]
Virtual Court Benchmarks ………………………………………………..[ 14 Jan 2021 ]
===================================================
With regards,
Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 24 Oct 2021