Jahanvi Agarwal
Recently, Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar who is the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, officially opened 50 more paperless courts in 23 districts around Odisha. Judges from the High Court and Justice Subhasis Talapatra, Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology Committee both attended the ceremony.
Umesh Lalit, the then-CJI had inaugurated 34 paperless courts in September last year, spanning all 30 districts. While appreciating numerous e-initiatives taken by the High Court, he had said: “All of you deserve congratulations, above all, the High Court of Orissa for showing us a new direction, new light. I wish this gets replicated, repeated everywhere.”
Chief Justice Muralidhar stated in a virtual congregation that the inauguration of 50 paperless courts in the second is yet another milestone for the Odisha Judiciary. He added that this is still a work in progress and that the remaining 50 paperless courts would be operational within a month.
He praised the judiciary for being a pioneer in adopting technology into courtroom operations. According to him, the COVID epidemic boosted the use of technology in the judiciary and would impact how judicial officers approached their work.
Sharing one of his experiences, the former Chief Justice said that working in a paperless court makes it much easier for judges to retrieve relevant documents from digital archives, which is significantly more difficult when dealing with massive physical records.
Not only this, but it also positively impacts the judge’s attitude.
He emphasized the effect of the paperless courts on the reconfiguration of space and the whole architecture of the Court. He was of the opinion that all initiatives in digitalization, electronic filing, and paperless courts are intended to increase access to justice while also improving its cost, effectiveness, and efficiency.