Keywords: Digital Trial Courts, E-filings, E-inspection of records.
To commemorate this year’s Independence Day, the Delhi High Court has introduced a number of new digital initiatives, including cause lists that are intended to be accessible to petitioners, attorneys, and those who are blind or visually impaired.
According to the Delhi High Court, the new “Web Accessibility Compliant Cause List” will make it easier for those who are blind or visually impaired to access the Delhi High Court’s cause list by utilizing a variety of accessibility text-to-speech programs.
The action was carried out via the High Court’s Accessibility Committee, which Justice Rajiv Shakhder chairs, with input from Rahul Bajaj and Amar Jain, two attorneys for the blind.
The High Court today unveiled a number of new information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives, including this one.
Justice Shakdher, who is also the head of the High Court’s information technology committee, was present when Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma performed the inauguration.
Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva, Sanjeev Narula, and Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav (member of the Information Technology Committee) as well as other judges were present at the ceremony.
According to a press release, the new initiatives launched today include the following.
On the S3WaaS platform, ten new websites for each Delhi District Court were launched.
The district court websites formerly ran on the Drupal framework. GIGW Compliance (Guidelines for Indian Government Websites) is followed by the recently launched Secure, Scalable, and Sugamya Website as a Service (S3WaaS) websites. According to the news release, these websites were created using Open-Source Technology, include built-in search features, and were created with accessibility in mind.
All of the materials on the websites are stored in OCR format for easy access by those who are blind. Additionally, the information from earlier web pages has been transferred to the new platform.
Trial Court Records (TCR) are shared digitally with the High Court through this platform.
Previously, the High Courts received the trial court records (TCR) through CDs. According to news reports, District Courts used to buy around 8,000 CDs yearly for this purpose. However, the CDs often become damaged and corrupted as a result of wear and use.
District courts may now easily exchange TCRs with the High Court using the new facility’s SSL VPN-based technology. After the High Court receives the digital TCR, it will verify it and add it to the case file that is shared with the court for court proceedings.
Web Accessibility Compliant Lawyer Cause List for Lawyers with Visual Impairments
An earlier Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the production of documents that are accessible to people with disabilities was released by the E-Committee of the Supreme Court of India.
This resulted in the creation of the High Court’s Accessibility Committee, which has since changed the Delhi High Court’s cause lists to conform to online accessibility guidelines and improve accessibility for those with visual impairments.
Notably, accessibility committees have now been established in all Delhi district courts. The Delhi High Court and district courts’ websites will both provide information about these panels.
The news statement went on to mention other projects the High Court has previously launched, including e-filing, e-records inspection, digital traffic courts, and hybrid e-Seva Kendra.
Name: Anamika Parasher, College: Jagran Lakecity University, Semester: LLB 5th semester an intern under Legal Vidhiya.
