After the inauguration of its new building in Jodhpur last week, the Rajasthan High Court has decided to make its functioning largely paperless and digitise its records within the next year. A vision document for the State’ s judiciary, with the details of resource mobilisation and utilisation as well as manpower, is also being prepared.
High Court Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty said at the principal seat in Jodhpur that the process for filing of cases would be converted into the electronic format and the court would deliver e-orders in the next six months to a year. “Lawyers will not be required to carry paper files with them during the hearings,” he said.
The High Court has already started releasing the daily cause lists in the digital format. Justice Mahanty said the vision document would assess the requirements of lower courts and ensure optimum utilisation of the resources.
The Chief Justice said the High Court would shortly work out a model to promote pre-litigation mediation in order to bring out-of-court resolution of disputes. This would help address the huge backlog of undecided cases, especially those relating to matrimonial and property disputes.
A Full Court with all the 21 judges of the High Court at its Jodhpur principal seat and the Jaipur Bench was convened in the new building, situated at Jhalamand in Jodhpur, on Monday. This was the first instance after 1976 that all the judges sat and conducted hearings in Jodhpur. The High Court’s Jaipur Bench was established in 1976.
President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the new building on Saturday and called upon the judiciary to make justice accessible to the poor and the marginalised people. Mr. Kovind said the provision of free legal aid and the applications of technology would go a long way in making justice accessible to all.
