Reforms And Initiatives Mark The First 100 Days Of 50th Chief Justice Of India, Dr Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud

CONFERENCES AND PROGRAMMES

To continue the tradition of celebrating the Constitution Day jointly by all the three organs of the State, the Supreme Court of India, had organized a programme to deliberate upon various dimensions of the Constitution to promote democratic values on the 26^th November, 2022. Hon’ble Prime Minister had inaugurated the function and delivered the Inaugural Address. Her Excellency the President of India delivered the Valedictory Address.

The working sessions of Chief Justices’ Conference, chaired by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India, had deliberated on several topics related to “Envisioning a futuristic judiciary” in November, 2022.

In commemoration of 73^rd Anniversary of the establishment of the Supreme Court of India, first Annual Lecture on the theme “The Role of Judiciary in a Changing World” by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sundaresh Menon, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Singapore was organised by the Supreme Court of India this month.

A delegation of 23 US State Court Judges, including the Indian-American Judges, led by Hon’ble Justice Sanjay T Tailor, Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court, First District met Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India to discuss issues related to judicial functioning.

The Supreme Court of India conducted first ever Hackathon for identifying innovative ideas and exploring practical propositions for refining and bringing in efficiency to the existing processes from ‘filing’ to ‘listing’ of judicial matters. The event was part of the process to enhance the organisational practices and usher in reforms in the working of the Registry.

I.T. INITIATIVES

• E-SCR

On 2^nd January, 2023, Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India launched eSCR [Supreme Court Reports (SCR), the official publication of Supreme Court of India] as a tribute to the nation. With more than 34,000 judgments available online, the portal provides facility to search judgments based on various parameters like, phrase, words, all words, name of the Hon. Judge, Bench strength, volume, citation, date of decision etc. The portal provides free access to the Supreme Court Reports, published since 1950 onwards. Total of 34,055 judgments have been uploaded so far in English language.

As an upgrade to the eSCR, within just 4 weeks of the launch, on 26^th January 2023, Supreme Court of India released some new features on the e-SCR portal. With an aim to provide access to the Judgments in scheduled languages, the new feature provides translated versions of Supreme Court Judgments in Indian languages. So far 3132 judgments translated in Indian languages are available (Hindi- 2952, Tamil – 52, Malayalam- 29, Telugu – 28, Odia -21, Kannada- 17, Marathi-14, Assamese & Punjabi- 4 each, Nepali, Gujarati & Urdu- 3 each, Garo and Khasi – 1 each).

Another feature added in e-SCR is word proximity search for providing searching of words in selected proximity. This feature assists the user to narrow down search for providing better results.

• ONLINE APPEARANCE SLIP

Initiatives that have been propelled for ensuring smooth access to justice through use of technology and to make the working of the Registry paperless include launch of Advocate Appearance Slip Portal that aims to do away with manual filing of appearance by the Advocates-on-Record. Since its launch, 1,42,818 online appearance slips have been submitted and equal number of papers, if not more, have been saved.

• DIGITIZATION OF RECORDS

The process of scanning and providing soft paper books for paperless court functioning are inspired by the visionary outlook of the Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India to ensure that Judiciary uses technology to its optimum level. The PIL section has also started extensive use of technology and is working towards electronic processing of petitions.

• e-OFFICE & e-HRMS

Implementation of e-Office module in certain administrative sections in the Supreme Court of India, initiating the process of implementation of e-HRMS in the Registry are also some of the fast moving initiatives that are aimed not only at environment friendly, paperless operation of the Registry but also would go a long way in employee record maintenance and efficient administration.

• ANNUAL PROPERTY RETURN MODULE

All the officers and officials of the Registry can submit their annual property returns online. The Computer Cell’s joint initiative with the Vigilance Cell to develop the annual property module is another epaulette on the shoulders of the Registry to save paper and streamline the work processes environmentally sustainable.

• VIDEO-CONFERENCE

With the decision of the Competent Authority to continue the video conferencing (VC) in physical-hybrid mode, the Computer Cell played a key role to ensure that the VC infrastructure and services are up and running 24x7 in high availability mode.

Since November 09, 2022, until February 15, 2023, the Supreme Court of India has witnessed 2,53,919 attendees for VC hearings. Further, during the same period 43 hearings of Constitution Bench cases through YouTube and NIC’ webcast services have been live-streamed.

WELFARE & WELLNESS INITIATIVES

• SUPREME COURT COMMITTEE ON ACCESSIBILITY

A Committee namely the “Supreme Court Committee on Accessibility”, chaired by Hon’ble Mr. Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, has been constituted with a broad aim to conduct an accessibility audit of the Supreme Court premises and its functioning, to release a questionnaire for persons with disabilities, who visit the Supreme Court premises (including employees of Supreme Court, advocates, litigants, interns, etc.) to assess the nature and extent of the problems they face and prepare report containing results of the accessibility audit, surveys, recommendations/proposals geared towards removing barriers to access. Questionnaires have been finalized and approved in the meetings and will be uploaded on the website of the Supreme Court within a week, for taking inputs from the stakeholders as well as Disability Rights Experts.

• TRAINING & WELLNESS

Training sessions in stress management, communication and presentation skills, organizational behaviour & ethics and value in public governance, critical thinking, problem solving & decision making for the officers and staff members of the Registry are underway.

Health and Wellness Centre with facilities for Yoga and Cardio alongwith regular gym equipment was inaugurated and is being increasingly used by the Staff of Supreme Court. The facilities at the CGHS Wellness Centre are being augmented for the health and welfare of the employees.

Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India has been pleased to direct installation of Automated External Defibrillator (AED) in CGHS Wellness Centre in Supreme Court and the same will be installed shortly.

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS

• CASE CATEGORIZATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE

A Committee namely the “Case Categorisation Advisory Committee”, chaired by Hon’ble Mr. Justice P.S. Narasimha, has been constituted for revisiting the existing framework related to the categorisation of judicial matters according to the “Subject Categories” with a view to identify the overlapping subject categories/sub-categories, renaming/merging the existing subject categories and/or sub-categories, subject categories/sub-categories which have become redundant, to propose addition of new subject categories/sub-categories, to suggest mechanism to map existing categories with the proposed change in subject category/sub-category. The report of the Committee is expected soon.

• AI ASSISTED LEGAL TRANSLATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE

A Committee namely the “AI assisted Legal Translation Advisory Committee”, chaired by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Abhay S. Oka, has been constituted to assess and monitor the progress of and to suggest measures to further enhance the usage of Artificial Intelligence Tools for translating judicial records in various vernacular languages in Supreme Court of India. The domain experts in the field of Artificial Intelligence are the Members of the Committee. The AI Translation Committee have also been constituted at every High Court to supervise the machine translation of judicial records with the help of SUVAS. Hon’ble Chairperson of the Committee has held four meetings with the High Courts to formulate the road map for translation of Supreme Court reportable judgments in regional languages. As a pilot project, four High Courts (Allahabad, Rajasthan, Patna and Madhya Pradesh) have been identified to translate the Supreme Court judgments in Hindi, whereas Orissa, Madras, Karnataka and Gujarat High Courts will translate Supreme Court judgments in Odia, Tamil, Kannada and Gujarati language respectively, commencing from 20th February 2023. The High Courts are also encouraged to translate their judgments in regional language of its State.

• ANNUAL CALENDAR FOR THE REGISTRY

With a view to enhance the efficiency and smooth functioning of all the Branches/Sections of the Registry and to avoid last minute hassle in seeking approval of the Competent Authority, all the Branches/Sections of the Registry, through their Registrar(s)/OSD(s) have been directed to prepare an Annual Calendar for their respective Branch/Section covering activities which are being carried out annually with the approval of the Competent Authority and to ensure strict compliance with the date(s) for commencement of proposed action in order to avoid seeking last minute approval of the Competent Authority.

• EMAIL POLICY

On 25^th January, 2023, a uniform email policy and guidelines for the Officers and officials of the Registry was implemented. The main thrust of email policy is to make the Registry’s administrative side office work be made paperless, repository and archival of information, electronic transmission saving costs overrun and manpower.

• RTI ONLINE PORTAL

The RTI online portal launched on 24^th November, 2022 has been a giant leap towards transparency, paperless filing of applications, appeals and payment of fees through online mode such as net banking, card payments, UPI, etc. Around 450 online RTI applications have been received till date.

• BILL SUBMISSION SOFTWARE

Compact module of Bill payments software of Cash & Accounts I is developed by the NIC/Computer Cell of this Registry under the Head ‘Salary’ (Intranet Basis) which is more efficient and easy to use (user friendly).

• EFILING VERSION 2.0

The in-house software development team of the Computer Cell in close coordination of NIC has developed a new electronic filing software (efiling Ver.2.0). The efiling Ver. 2.0 is close knit software, application with the workhorse case management software of the Registry, namely, Integrated Case Management & Information System (ICMIS). The filing Ver. 2.0 shall not only enable the Advocates-on-Record, Party-in-Person, other stakeholders of justice delivery system to file fresh cases, applications, documents, etc., through online mode but also append their signature electronically i.e., eSign. Further, the efiling Ver. 2.0 shall intimate the Advocates-on-Record, Party-in-Person about the defects notification and cure all of defects and to access their case related information, paperbooks, etc. The efiling Ver. 2.0 software is in its advance stage of testing and the same shall be ready for launch soon.

• PAPERLESS FUNCTIONING OF THE Registrar court

Registrar Court No. 2 is functioning paperless by use of ICMIS. Other Registrar Courts will function paperless soon.

• PAPERLESS FUNCTIONING OF THE COURT MASTER’s WING

The practice of sending fresh matter files to Court Masters’ Wing (Nearly 400 to 500 files on miscellaneous day) will be discontinued as the records in soft form are available on the ICMIS.

• VIDHI SAHITYA PRAKASHAN

Vidhi Sahitya Prakashan, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law & Justice, Government of India is associated with the Translation Cell of Supreme Court of India with the aim of providing authentic and accurate translation of important reportable Supreme Court judgments into Hindi language.

• NEUTRAL CITATIONS SYSTEM

Steps have been taken for introduction and implementation of a uniform, reliable and secure methodology for identifying and citing decisions in Supreme Court of India, namely the “Neutral Citations System” to ensure a uniform pattern of citing all the decisions of the Supreme Court. The Committee constituted to suggest mechanism for seeding the ‘neutral citation’ into legacy data of judgments and orders and uploading live data of judgments and orders with sequential ‘neutral citation’ will be submitting the report within a week.

• INITIATIVES OF THE ADMN. MATERIAL BRANCH

New Procurement Policy incorporating revision in financial powers at all levels, widening the source of procurement by including Government e-Market Place (GeM), etc., is prepared and under consideration.

Change in dress code/uniforms for ushers, chauffeurs and other Group ‘C’ non-clerical staff, to do away with the colonial attire is being planned

• INITIATIVES OF THE RECEIPT & ISSUE (R&I) BRANCH

R&I branch has initiated steps for utilization of BNPL (Book Now Pay Later) facility of the Department of Posts, which would provide API (Application Programme Interface) facility. Through this initiative, the concerned Branch may be able to track the delivery of the articles dispatched by the Registry online and help generate the delivery status report. By this step, the problems inherent in handling A.D. Cards (if sent through registered A.D.) will be done away with, which will save a lot of precious time of the Hon’ble Courts and in turn will make the justice delivery system quicker.

• INITIATIVES OF THE PIL-ENGLISH BRANCH

PIL-English branch has started online processing of all petitions received electronically through email. Through this initiative, the Registry will be saving enormously in terms of papers and manpower. Based on the statistics of last year, 83,000 letter petitions were received electronically, and presuming that on an average each petition consists of atleast two pages, the Registry will be saving 1,66,000 pages equivalent to 332 reams of A-4 size paper.

• INITIATIVES UNDERTAKEN ON THE JUDICIAL SIDE

Fresh and after notice matters are being listed on Monday, Tuesday and Friday and only regular matters are listed on Wednesday and Thursday.

The number of cases listed before the Registrar Court is increased from 40 to 80 per day.

During the period ranging from 9^th November, 2022 to 15^th February, 2023, total number of cases filed are 13,764 and total number of cases disposed of are 14,209.

JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS

• 8 Hon’ble Judges have been appointed in the Supreme Court.
• 12 names have been recommended by the SC Collegium for appointment of High Court Chief Justices. Against these recommendations, 04 Chief Justices (including 1 woman and 1 belonging to OBC) have been appointed. In an unprecedented manner, recommendations have been made against anticipated vacancies of Chief Justices of 2 High Courts.
• 35 names (including 7 names of women candidates) have been recommended by the SC Collegium for appointment of High Court Judges. 30 Judges (including 7 women Judges, 8 belonging to OBC, 2 SC, 1 ST, 1 Christian and 1 Muslim) in High Courts have since been appointed.
• While recommending names for judicial appointments, the following aspects are being duly taken into consideration by the Collegium:

- inclusion of gender diversity;

- need to give due representation to marginalized and backward sections of the society and minorities.

• In the Conference held on the occasion of Constitution Day in November, 2022, Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India urged the Chief Justices of the High Courts to accord priority to filling up vacant posts at all levels by making merit-based recommendations of suitable persons with impeccable integrity and personal and professional conduct.

INITIATIVES OF THE e-COMMITTEE

• Digital Courts Desktop Application launched.
• Justis App 2.0 rolled out for High Court Chief Justices and Judges.
• Neutral Citation implemented in few States and steps for the implementation of Neutral Citation across India are being taken.
• eOffice implemented in eCommittee.
• eFiling 3.0 implemented in High Courts of Manipur, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and District Courts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Bihar.
• Sensitization Module for the Judiciary on LGBTIQA+ community
• S3Waas- District Court websites migration is underway
• Judgment Search Portal - Supreme Courts Judgments included in Judgment Search Portal
• ECT Training is undertaken in the Month of November 2022 & December 2022
• e-Committee website made live in Bengali Language
• Based on the proposal of eCommittee, the Finance Minister announces 7000 Crores budget outlay for phase 3 of eCourts project