A leading Daily recently published  an article which referred  to difficulties faced by the Judicial Authorities in prompt disposal of Court Cases .In the article Ms Shailja Chadra a former Chief Secretary has suggested ways and means for effecting prompt disposal of old cases pending in our Lower Courts. Based on her experience the authoress has suggested that more Hearings may be scheduled through Video Conferencing in order to expedite the disposal of cases. She has also suggested for deployment of Retired Officers for supplementing efforts  of regular Officers.

Commenting on this article two readers have expressed their reservations about success of such measures. They have opined that persons / litigants who are in judicial custody may not be able to freely express and defend  themselves in such proceedings and have also referred to other apparent difficulties in adopting such advanced / modern techniques.

The first Article based on wisdom of Ms Shailja Chandra Ex senior Civil Servant had reflected actual ground situation and suggested a practical way out for ameliorating the practical constraints. The higher Courts have recently started conducting online hearings. It can be stated without doubt that specially in the Lower Courts the poor litigants have to visit the Law Courts a number of times and when the trial is over after a long time the relevance of judicial pronouncements is lost on the persons involved in litigation. It was recently pointed out that the most crowded Courts are the Courts of Traffic Challans due to large number of cases and staff constraints.The litigation related difficulties have led to situations where poor litigants after visiting the trial court for a large number of times develop fear psychosis sometimes referred to as the “black coat syndrome”. The need for making the working of trial courts litigant friendly is stressed at various fora. In this scenario it is necessary that we examine the suggestions contained in the aforesaid article from Ms Shailja Chandra in a positive and constructive manner. In the present times when automation and use of artificial intelligence Is the popular strategy for reduction of workload and expediting disposal we need to look into the use of video conferencing strategy at the court also.

  It may be recalled that during recent Corona times considerable importance was given in Govt Departments for facilitating  disposal of Judicial and Quasi-judicial work and holding of large scale meetings /conferences and training sessions through video conferencing. The technicalities involved in video conferencing are now quite comprehensible to Govt Departments government departments and law courts the need Is for popularising the strategy and familiarising the common Government Servants with modern communication techniques.

Having worked in Quasi Judicial capacities during my service career I cannot agree to any apprehensions as raised by two readers against video conferencing strategy .Everyone needs to understand that the time has come for taking drastic measures and appreciating involvement of modern communication devices and strategies for solving the issues which confront the society in quick disposal of pending court cases.

There are eventualities where a Government Department has assigned the responsibility for proper filing and management of some court case(s) to a certain employee. In case the employee is transferred in course of the proceedings to some other distant location.Later  for pursuing the assigned court cases filed by him he has to travel long distance from other places where he has been shifted. It needs to be appreciated that everyone who is appearing in Court cases is not a criminal and he may be doing some sincere duty for interest of the State. In such eventualities the compulsion of travelling in long-distance is quite unfair and some  shortcuts  need  to be evolved with help of technology .

There may also be instances where unscrupulous encroachers /unlawful elements taking advantage of absence of lawful owners have occupied some building or agricultural properties .Person who have moved out of their ancestral place /villages and did not have time to go back and attend to agriculture and allied activities are at a great  disadvantage.Frivolous litigations and concerns about safety of a person going back to ancestral place after several years can be tackled by introduction of  of infrastructure for remote hearing..If a facility is available for online communication with the Trial Court or the Revenue Authorities looking after the revenue matters in the concerned area, the disputes can be discussed into few hearings and disposed off promptly. For such and many other cases availability of online discussion facilities between the Court and Litigant can provide relief to millions of persons.

Similarly in respect of Criminal cases the undertrials have to be transported from the detention facilities in a large Van with necessary security escort vehicles to the District level Trial Court on daily basis Thereafter undertrials are taken the to respective courts.under watch . At the end of the day the same staff  and security is responsible for bringing them to the detention facility, what a cumbersome exercise. On appreciating the logistics of this exercise which is a legacy of British times any one can understand the financial expenses required for maintenance of such transportation and supporting security infrastructure. It is imaginable as to how much resources would be saved if online hearing can be held between the detention facility and the trial court

Some readers have expressed doubts about free conduct of trials in criminal cases from detention facilities on assumption that the person facing trial can be  under pressure from the Prison Officials.This apprehension  is unfounded because if a person needs to be produced online before the Trial Court the Video Conferencing Facility would be set up in the office premises under watch of some senior officers and even an independent Magistrate can be posted at the Video Conferencing Room to ensure that the person facing trial is not harassed or put under under pressure . Any reservations against this system are therefore illogical and unfounded.

Another valuable suggestion which was made in the article by Ms Shaila Chandra Ex IAS related to involvement of retired officers in deliverance of justice. At present the involvement of retired officers in quasi-judicial functions  related to Disciplinary Proceedings of various Govt Departments is a regular feature and is working to the satisfaction of all concerned .This innovative strategy has reduced the burden on regular serving officers and evolved panels of experienced Retired Officers in Government and allied Departments for dealing with the cases of Disciplinary Inquiries pertaining to Government Servants. This system had been very successful in disposing off the backlog of pending Departmental Inquiries and has taken a huge burden off the shoulders of working officers. It is a fact that wherever the Departmental Inquiries are  now being assigned to dedicated  group of Inquiry Officers the same are now  completed in time bound manner. Therefore there is no ground to suspect that the quality of Judicial work will go down if retired officers are called upon to share the burden of Court Work with the serving officers. In matter of disposal of judicial cases the strategy suggested can work wonders in transforming the system of judicial work.

While the time for use of AI in disposal of judicial work has not yet come but sometime in near future we may be having some contribution from AI for routine functions such as preparation of notices /Case Lists for Hearing or scrutiny of land records.Let us keep our fingers crossed.

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