Top court to go paperless in 7 months
New Delhi, March 23
The Supreme Court is all set to witness a digital revolution.
Chief Justice of India JS Khehar on Thursday said in six to seven months the practice of filing of bulky petitions with annexure running into hundreds of pages will be done away with.
The CJI said the top court will electronically collect records of trial courts and high courts and there will be no need of case records being filed afresh in the Supreme Court.
Those wanting to file petitions in the top court will only have to briefly put in writing the grounds on which they challenge an order, Justice Khehar added.
Once implemented, the digital system will help the top court to achieve filing of petitions without voluminous paper work — something considered impossible and ambitious hitherto.
The CJI revealed the all important plan during hearing of a PIL seeking uniform guidelines on designating advocates as “senior advocates” by the court after senior counsel Indira Jaising sought expeditious disposal of the matter by a larger bench.
It has been 10-and-a-half-year since the Supreme Court introduced the system of e-filing of petitions on October 2, 2006. But it has failed to take off properly as only a negligible number of litigants and lawyers use electronic filing. This was despite the fact that a user-friendly programme with interactive features has been prepared by National Informatics Centre (NIC).
This was for the first time that e-filing was made available by any court in India. The e-filing will obviate the need to visit the Supreme Court for filing of the case, any additional application or document in a case.
According to the system put in place with the help of NIC a decade ago, every Advocate-on-Record — through whom the cases are filed in the Supreme Court — will be given a password and the litigant filing in person will be given a “unique reference number” to file the petition once he accesses the Supreme Court website.
The payment of fee had to be charged at the rate of Rs 1.50 per page and it could be paid through Visa, Master, and credit and debit cards by the litigant. No additional court fee or processing fee was required for e-filing.
E-filing has been modeled in conformity with the Supreme Court rules on filing of cases and makes it free from filing defects before the case is finally registered, sources said.
The petitioners-in-person were required to submit proof of their identity for which they would scan on internet the ration card, Income Tax PAN card, office identity card, driving licence and voters identity card.
The text of the petition can be typed on computer whereas documents, including affidavits and vakalatnamas, can be submitted by scanning by them.
Every case will be scrutinised to identify the filing defects, if any, and the same will be immediately communicated by a registry to Advocate-on-Record, or the litigant as the case may be removed by an e-mail without any loss of time by using the reference number in case of petitioner-in-person.
Besides petitions, counter affidavits, rejoinders as ordered to be filed by the Court during the hearing, fresh applications in the ongoing cases, caveats, additional documents could also be filed through the internet. “It will be possible to make any modifications and changes before the matters are finally submitted to the court for hearing”.
There is a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) answered on the Supreme Court website to help those wanting to go for e-filing of petitions.
