50 More Paperless Courts Opened In Odisha Taking Total Tally To 84; Ganjam Becomes First District To Have All Paperless Courts

Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar inaugurated 50 more Paperless Courts across 23 Districts of Odisha in virtual mode on Monday. The event was attended by Justice Subhasis Talapatra, Chairman, Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology Committee and the Judges of the High Court.

In September last year, 34 Paperless Courts covering all the 30 Districts were inaugurated by the then CJI Uday Umesh Lalit. While appreciating numerous e-initiatives taken by the High Court, he had said: “All of you deserve congratulations, above all, the High Court of Orissa for showing us a new direction, new light. I wish this gets replicated, repeated everywhere."

In the Valedictory Ceremony of the “National Conference on Digitization, e-Initiatives and Paperless Courts” held at Cuttack on 5th and 6th May, 2023, Chief Justice Muralidhar had announced to open 100 Paperless Courts in the State within a period of three months.

With this inauguration, the number of Paperless Courts in the District Judiciary of the State has reached 84 and Ganjam has become the first district in the State to have all the Courts paperless. In near future 50 more Paperless Courts are planned to be opened, informed the Registry.

While addressing the virtual congregation, Chief Justice Muralidhar said inauguration of 50 paperless courts in the second phase is yet another milestone crossed by the Odisha Judiciary and this is a work in progress and the next 50 paperless courts will be made functional within a month.

He complimented the judiciary for taking the lead in adapting technology for functioning of Courts. He said COVID pandemic caused acceleration of use of technology in judiciary and technology would change the way Judicial Officers approach their work.

Sharing his experience, the Chief Justice said that working in Paperless Court makes it much easier for the Judges to access the relevant documents from digital archives which is far more difficult in voluminous physical records and it leaves a positive impact on the mindset of the Judge.

He emphasized on the impact of Paperless Court on the reconfiguration of space and the whole architecture of the Court. He said all the measures of digitization, e-filing and paperless courts are to make access to justice more affordable, more efficient and more effective.