Odisha: CJI For Paperless Courts, Cautions About Flip-Side Of Artificial Intelligence

Cuttack: Courts across the country are likely to become paperless soon, Chief Justice of India (CJI), Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said on Saturday, while cautioning about a flipside of themuch talked about Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Though several lower courts are still relying a lot on paperwork, the scenario is expected to change in coming days, the CJI said  while addressing an event on ‘Digitisation, Paperless Courts and e-initiatives’ at Odisha Judicial Academy in Cuttack.

Referring to the infrastructure facilities of judicial system in Odisha, the CJI said the state is better equipped than many other states and its efforts are satisfactory.

Stating that virtual courts would be an integral part of the Indian judiciary system in future, the CJI said Delhi has been leading in virtual courts particularly in area of traffic challans.

Referring to the Live streaming, he said now most High Courts are doing Live streaming. There are clips on YouTube of the Patna High Court judge asking an IAS officer why he was not appropriately dressed or somebody in Gujarat HC judge asking a lawyer why she is not prepared with her case are going around.

Many funny things are going on in YouTube which need to be controlled, because this is serious stuff  and what happens in the court is extremely serious, he said

“Live streaming that we are doing has a flipside and we judges need to be trained as every word which we judges say in court is up in public realm in the age of social media. We realise this when we live stream constitution bench arguments,” the CJI said.

Noting that Artificial Intelligence has a flip side as well, the CJI said it would be very difficult in allowing artificial intelligence to tell us what sentence to hand down following a conviction in a criminal case.

Stating that many courts across the world have experimented with artificial intelligence, Justice Chandrachud said the same time, AI is replete with possibility. How do you expect a judge to digest the evidence in a statutory appeal in a record involving 15k pages. AI can prepare the record for you, he said.