CJI Uday Umesh Lalit Inaugurates Paperless Courts Across Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Uday Umesh Lalit on Saturday inaugurated paperless courts in all 30 districts of the state in virtual mode from Odisha Judicial Academy in Cuttack.

“Orissa HC has shown a new direction. I wish it gets replicated everywhere,” the CJI said.

According to sources, a Special Postal Cover celebrating the 75th Year of the High Court of Orissa was also released on this occasion.

Chief Justice of Orissa High Court S Muralidhar, Judges of the Supreme Court Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice MR Shah, Judges of Orissa High Court, and other dignitaries were also present.

India has a multilevel court system. There has been a high backlog of cases in Indian Courts over the years which results in the courts’ growing workload. A significant portion of the delay is attributed to the complicated paperwork that makes up the foundation of the court system. As case files and other documents increase for years together, it becomes difficult to organize them due to a lack of manpower and storage space.

In a traditional court, the handwritten order sheets fade away with time making them hard to decode. The case is available to a judge through a case information system.

However, a paperless court functions without physical records where judges rely on digitized court records and use technology to facilitate court proceedings. In this, the entire case is available to the judge on a portable device making it convenient to access the relevant part of the record without going through the entire file.

The Orissa High Court has adopted ‘E-Filing portal 3.0’ where the litigants and advocates can file cases directly through it. The ‘E-Filing portal’ has integrated the payment of e-court fees.

During trial procedures, the possessions of the witnesses can be recorded and their signatures can be obtained digitally.