The Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today held a "first of its kind of virtual meeting", highlighting that given the COVID-19 situation, hearings via video conferencing may remain a "norm" for some time. He emphasized to take this challenge as an opportunity to make digital systems in justice delivery more robust.
The meeting was convened via video conferencing in the virtual presence of the Attorney General of India, Shri K. K. Venugopal, Solicitor General Shri Tushar Mehta, all the Additional Solicitors General and Assistant Solicitors General, Secretary of Department of Legal Affairs and Secretary of Department of Justice.
During the meet, the Law Minister also cautioned that "overzealous PILs" should be avoided during such challenging times.
While he acknowledged that one cannot stop anyone from filing cases but, "there must be an effective response to these types of interventions," he said finding consensus from the Attorney General and all other law officers.
The Minister emphasized that addressing such a serious pandemic throws up complicated and sensitive nature of challenges which were decided to be tackled by imposition of a lockdown, unanimously by the Prime Minister and all the Chief Ministers. Further, all the guidelines and measures are being issued after seeking extensive feedback from the concerned Ministries. Therefore, he said, it will be appropriate that this decision-making process of the Government of India and the state governments is "trusted".
On this note, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured that the Supreme Court had from time to time "upheld" the guidelines issued by the Government.
During the meeting, the Secretary, Department of Justice shared that there has been a significant growth in number of Advocates who have registered for e-filing of cases. He informed, 1282 Advocates have registered for e-filing of petitions during lockdown out of which 543 Advocates have registered in last one week alone.
However, he also pointed out various issues about e-Courts. In this regard, the Attorney General and many other law officers also emphasized that there is a need to strengthen the e-Courts system by addressing the connectivity issues and by training of lawyers in e-Courts management.
Therefore, the Secretary, Department of Justice has been asked to coordinate with the Supreme Court to bring these challenges before the SC e-Court Committee and to improve the system in coordination with NIC and other agencies.
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![Strengthen The E-Courts System by Addressing the Connectivity Issues And Training Lawyers: AG And Other Law Officers To Law Minister [Read Press Note]](https://www.livelaw.in/h-upload/2019/05/31/750x450_361187-ravi-shankar-prasad.jpg "Strengthen The E-Courts System by Addressing the Connectivity Issues And Training Lawyers: AG And Other Law Officers To Law Minister [Read Press Note]")
