Shri V. Sai Krishna, Student coordinator,

Dear Teachers, Students, Researchers,

A very Good Morning to everyone. 

       It gives me great joy to address the students of Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, which is one of India's foremost national institutes of higher technological education, research, both basic and applied.

As we all know, the very concept of the Indian Institute of Technology evolved as a response to our Nation’s thirst for industrial progress through technology, at a time when we were starved of world-class technological capability.  I am happy that IIT Madras has always lived up to India's dreams by pursuing global standards of excellence in teaching, research, consultancy and continuing education through self-evaluation and continuous improvement. Moreover, IIT Chennai has always been noted for its dynamic equilibrium with our social, ecological and economic environment.

That the best young technologists of our country have assembled here to evaluate the impact of a technological initiative like “Digital India” speaks volumes about the social values that guide you in your way forward.

My talk today has to touch upon two aspects, namely, how Digital India impacts society in general and how it enhances the quality of judicial services. As a person hailing from the Judiciary, I would be mentioning more on that area, but I will also attempt to highlight some areas where the digital revolution helps society by being a catalyst for good governance.

We are all aware of how Digital India carried forward the National e-Governance Plan, which  was initiated in 2006, with  31 Mission Mode Projects covering domains like agriculture, land records, health, education, passports, police, courts, municipalities, commercial taxes, treasuries etc.  To overcome the shortcomings in the National e-Governance Plan, we later had the e-Kranti programme with the vision of Transforming e-Governance.

The vision of Digital India programme is to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. To ensure this transformation, Digital India seeks to make digital infrastructure a utility for every citizen. This programme also seeks to ensure seamlessly integrated services across departments in real time from on-line & mobile platforms.

Incidentally, I must add that in Kerala, which has the best connectivity, we have declared a policy of considering Internet as a basic right of the citizen. If you look at the use of digital and online services, we have seen a surge in the number of people who have turned to such transactions. For instance, only two days ago, I was informed that there has been a nearly 15 percent increase in the number of consumers paying their Power bills on-line.  And, the number of urban people buying   tickets over the counter for films or travel has become minimal.

Ever since the idea of Digital India became known to more people, there certainly has been an increase in digital transactions in purchases, banking and other services. Though Demonetization had received widespread criticism from our people, it had succeeded in conveying to people that it was high time they moved to digital methods. Besides, Digital India which focuses on digital literacy, digital resources, and collaborative digital platforms, has also placed emphasis on availability of digital resources and services in all Indian languages. The spreading of the technology through different languages has made people more confident of using digital technology since the barrier caused by English has been lifted.

At the social level, Technology can help in ensuring good governance through a transparent system of service delivery. It can also be used as a leveler to contain corruption in our official processes. However, one of the most positive signs I had noticed is the increasing number of young people coming forward to become entrepreneurs by leveraging digital technology. Our Start up ecosystem has been seeing a surge in the number of youth who conceive business ventures using digital technology.

DIGITAL INDIA AND JUDICIARY

At a time when the boundaries of global production and interaction systems - be it physical, digital or biological – are being erased by technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is only natural that the demand for an intense integration of law and digital technology also becomes louder.

Fortunately, in tune with such demands, India had initiated the National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology [ICT]for the Indian judiciary in as early as 2005. The objectives of this Plan   included the creation of ICT infrastructure, training of judges and administrative staff and setting up digital archives to enhance the judicial productivity both qualitatively and quantitatively and make the justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost effective, transparent and accountable.

Undoubtedly, top priority in Judiciary is to fast track the disposal of pending cases by going digital and so, first paperless court under this program was started in July 2016 in the High Court at Hyderabad[New Telengana High Court]. If one wishes to understand the effectual impact of ICT interventions in Indian judiciary, High Court at Hyderabad would be an ideal example for analysis.

It was on the basis of the National Policy and Action Plan I mentioned a while ago, that the e-Courts project was conceptualized. National E-Courts Portal is the first phase of National Judicial Data Grid; it is a commendable Integrated Mission Mode Project.  The Portal reduces pendency of cases and helps in formulating timely policies to reduce delay and arrears. This online platform provides information relating to judicial proceedings/decisions of 16,089, computerized district and subordinate courts of the country. It informs litigants about details of case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders, and final judgments. Currently litigants can access case status information in respect of over 10 crore cases and more than 7 crore orders / judgments that too from their place.  The E-Courts portal and National Judicial Data Grid [NJDG] also serve as tools of efficient court and case management for judiciary.

At present, e-Courts has moved to the mobile through a Mobile App, which is updated and made available for both Android and other versions. It has a very user-friendly interface that allows access to all the relevant available information about a case. It can scan the QR code of a case and obtain the necessary information entered in it.  Since such applications are modified frequently, the facility to move without any hassle  from cases in the district courts to those in High Courts and vice versa. A lawyer can also use this application to seek information about cases filed in subordinate courts and most of the High Courts of the country.  The Case status can be searched through options like Number, Name of Party, Filing Number, FIR Number, Advocate Name, Relevant Act, and Case Type.  If you want, you can also search an advocate's bar-code to see the list of all his cases listed before all courts in a court complex. And, there is a Backup facility for taking backup of saved cases on your mobiles.

Thanks to all these efforts, the e-Courts Transaction   increased from 2 crore in 2014 to 42 crore in 2017. The number of court orders accessed also increased from a mere 64 in 2014 to 3.56 crore in 2017. The e-Courts project and its transparency had helped India move 20 ranks forward in the in the Ease of doing business ranking of the World Bank.

Challenges like lack of manpower, transparency and inadequate data on pending cases etc., had been hampering the  streamlining of  India’s justice system. Technologies like   video conferencing have helped by providing critical communication links between courtrooms, offices, visitation centers or prisons, while decreasing travel time, security risks, and inmate transportation costs for the judicial system.

Another development that merits mention is the 'Integrated Case Management Information System' of digital filing process in the court. This enables the Courts in our country to work in a more organized and effective manner, which will eventually have a positive impact on the justice delivery system. The third version of the Case Information System , called CIS 3.0 hasalso been developed by National Informatics Centre, Pune to further open the doors of district judiciary digitalization towards  awaited e filing, e-­payments, & e process and to move towards integrating the court, police station, prison.

Ultimately, the reputation of judiciary and the people's confidence in it are enhanced when the institution is more easily accessible.  But, technological up-gradation alone will not serve the purpose. It requires a mammoth exercise in skill up-gradation of the court staff, advocates and even the litigants.

The task of judicial administration and court management would hereafter require skills based on new technologies of communication and management. The hardware deployment in the courts and automation of some of the processes may be easy. But, to avail the best of the technology to meet avowed objectives, there has to be a sustainable change in attitude, work culture and transformation of processes, which is time consuming and requires continuous over-viewing, training and fine-tuning to make the change- management happen, till it becomes an irreversible part of the organizational behaviour. This is where your contribution and assistance is needed as technical experts.

The Status Reports received from the High Courts and the District Courts reveal that the application software so far developed for Indian Courts are neither uniform nor based on any scientific analysis and study of the court requirements. The applications have been developed at the whims and fancies of the local developers on the platforms and data base management tools of their choice and convenience.

For developing such efficient application software, a system analyst has to have a full insight of the organizational structure of the Indian Judiciary from the lower to apex courts. Thus I take this occasion to bring to your notice that there is scope for research and development even in the judicial field for technical minds like you. This is the most appropriate time for you to take advantage of it and contribute to developing a digitally comprehensive judicial system in India.

While e-Courts and the NJDG are substantial steps in the modernization of the Judiciary, we must realize that moving from paper to digital servers and screens is only a movement and not an improvement.

Optimistically the dream of paperless courts would become a reality soon and enhance the justice experience for citizens. As this would ensure an absolutely transparent system, a system which cannot be breached and a system where documents cannot be manipulated. Besides, paperless offices will largely benefit the environment.

It is your passion in technology that will take our country’s development to new heights. Being engineers and digital natives, innovation is already in your blood. Your innovations should be aimed not only towards generating comforts but also to be an instrument to improve the social setup and to overcome the numerous disparities existing in the contemporary society.  I wish you all the best.

I compliment the organizers for conducting this function in a befitting manner.

Thank You,

Jai Hind.