“Paperless Courts Across All Districts Of Odisha Are Not Far-Off”: Chief Justice Muralidhar While Inaugurating Virtual High Courts

While addressing on the occasion, the Chief Justice said that these steps are being taken to increase access to justice for the people of Odisha. He apprised that these facilities are quite beneficial for the lawyers to file cases, mention their matters, obtain certified copies and to appear before the High Court in virtual mode.

“But most importantly, it reduces the costs for litigants. It increases the efficiency and it assures speedy justice, at least in matters which require immediate orders,” he added.

He highlighted that there are certain kinds of cases in which the filing is more than in other kinds of cases, viz., bail applications, anticipatory bail applications, writ petitions. These are the major areas in which the High Court witnesses frequent filings. He said,

“When we launched on the scheme of having virtual courts for the High Court, two criteria were important for us. We analysed the total pendency of the cases in the High Court and understood from which districts these filings originate. More than 30% of the filing comes from just two districts, i.e. Cuttack and Khurda.”

He said when the High Court had to take a call on the question as to where to establish these Virtual High Courts first, one criterion was the contribution of the districts to the filing in the High Court.

The second criterion was the geographical distance. The Court took special care to ensure that wherever these virtual courts are established, those will serve the needs of the surrounding/ nearby districts.

“The first phase opening of the virtual courts has produced very encouraging results. I can speak for my colleagues that we have had absolutely no difficulty in listening to cases, having cases mentioned before us. Our Deputy Registrar and Registrar (Judicial) had no difficulty in mentioning of matters made from the districts.”

He said that the virtual courts are undoubtedly the future of not only of the Odisha Judiciary but also of the Indian Judiciary.

“Not just once but on several occasions, we had acknowledgements from the highest Court and in particular, the Chief Justice of India of how Odisha is leading the way in all the digital transformation, adaptations of technology not only in e-filing but also in virtual hearings as well. In fact, we have information that other States are also looking at ways of increasing the spread of the Benches of the High Courts.”

Justice Muralidhar also underlined a peculiar feature of Odisha Judiciary, i.e. the concept of “hands-on training” where some judicial officers, who are the master-trainers, train not only the lawyers but also the law clerks about the functioning of Courts through virtual mode.

“We are looking at a future in Odisha where all these Courts we are talking of not only the 10 Courts in the first phase or the 10 Courts [opened] today, but all the other Courts in Odisha would actually be paperless. The day is not far-off where all our records in all the districts are digitized and all the judges holding Courts in all these districts would be holding paperless Courts,” he added.

Lastly, he complimented the District Judges of the districts where Virtual High Courts were opened in the first phase. He also thanked the team of Assistant Section Officers (ASOs) for imparting training to the lawyers and staff. He expressed gratitude to the Bar members for extending cooperation.