IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF VIRTUAL COURTS IN INDIA

Abstract

The E-committee is a body constituted by the Government of India in furtherance of a proposal received by the Supreme Court in India in the year 2004 in order to provide a guide map for the use of Information Technology and Administrative reforms in the working of the judiciary. Further, the E-committee was formed to provide assistance in formulating a national policy on computerization of the Indian judiciary. The expenses in connection with the functioning of the E-committee and all people associated to it, i.e. Chairman, members, supporting staff, is met from the budget sanctioned to the Supreme Court of India. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud is the Chairman of the e-committee.

E-Courts was a project that was conceptualized by the E-committee in 2005 based on the “National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Indian Judiciary” which had the vision to transform the judiciary. The project aims at providing efficient and time-bound citizen centric services delivery as detailed in eCourt Project Litigant’s Charter; 1) to develop, install & implement decision support systems in courts; 2) to automate the processes to provide transparency in accessibility of information to its stakeholders; and 3) to enhance judicial productivity, both qualitatively & quantitatively, to make the justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost effective, predictable, reliable and transparent. One of the critical requirements noticed in the National Policy 2005 was, “...uniformity in the use of software at various court complexes shall render the functioning of the judicial system more coherent and in synchronization.” This was based on the status reports received from the high courts and the district courts that the application software so far developed for Indian courts need to be made and "developed at the whims and fancies of the local developers on the platforms and data base management tools of their choice and convenience". The e-Courts project in India thus took wing at a national level and implementation began.