Supreme Court Orders High Courts To Ensure Digitization Of District Court Records To Facilitate Smooth Functioning Of Judicial Process

While hearing a criminal appeal where the lower court records were lost, the division bench of Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Sanjay Karol observed,

"The job of the Court of Appeal is not to depend on the lower Court's judgment to uphold the conviction but, based on the record available before it duly called from the Trial Court and the arguments advanced before it, to come to a conclusion thereon...Had there been properly preserved records of the Trial Court, the issue in the present appeal as to whether the High Court could uphold a conviction having not perused the complete Trial Court record, would not have arisen."

It thus emphasized on the use of technology to preserve court records. "Technology in the present time become increasingly enmeshed with the systems of dispute resolution and adjudication with the trends pointing leading to all the more interplay, both supplementary and complimentary between technology and law,” the bench remarked.

The bench issued the following directions:

1. The Registrar General of the High Courts shall ensure that in all cases of criminal trial, as well as civil suits, the digitization of records must be duly undertaken with promptitude at all District Courts, preferably within the time prescribed for filing an appeal within the laws of procedure.

2. The concerned District Judge, once the system of digitization along with the system of authentication of the digitized records is in place in their judgeship, to ensure that the records so digitized are verified as expeditiously as possible.

3. A continually updated record of Register of Records digitized shall be maintained with periodic reports being sent to the concerned High Courts for suitable directions.

The bench highlighted that the E-committee of the Supreme Court of India on September 24, 2021 has issued an SOP for digital preservation. The said SOP provides for 18 steps for digitalisation process including the following:

a. It requires all High Courts to establish Judicial Digital Repositories (JDR) as well as the standardized system.

b. A digitisation cell at each of the High Courts is to be established to monitor the progress on day to day basis. It is the work of the cell to manage contracts with vendors for specialized services.

c. An online data tracking system to keep track of the data transferred to the High Courts and to facilitate the receipts for each set of transferred records to the District Courts as well.

d. District Courts to have backups of all data transferred to the High Court on a monthly basis while maintaining an independent record thereof.

“….considering the importance and essentiality of such record, a robust system of responsibility and accountability must be developed and fostered in order to ensure the proper protection and regular updation of all records facilitating the smooth functioning of the judicial process”, the Court said.

Case Title: Jitendra Kumar Rode v. Union of India

Coram: Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Sanjay Karol

Citation : 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 347

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