Technology strengthens equality before law, expands access to justice: CJI Surya Kant
In a country as socially and geographically diverse as India, digitisation cannot succeed unless it is accompanied by genuine accessibility, says CJI Kant
Maintaining that technology was no longer just a matter of administrative convenience, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Saturday said it has become a constitutional instrument and a tool that strengthened equality before law, expanded access to justice, and allowed the judiciary to transcend procedural regidities.
”It seems to me that technology, by itself, is not the yardstick for advancement. At best, it can accelerate a process. But if the underlying processes remain cumbersome and rooted in outdated procedural structures, technology can provide only limited relief. It may improve convenience, but it cannot, by itself, bring about the structural reform that our justice system requires,” the CJI said.
Addressing the inaugural function of the ‘National Conference on Judicial Process Re-engineering and Digital Transformation’ here, Justice Kant said the changes introduced by the judiciary over the years have marked the emergence of a new kind of system.
”We must ensure that every court serves as an integrated digital court equipped not only with hybrid hearing facilities, but capable of functioning as a fully paperless court. Technology has become a constitutional instrument. It is no longer an administrative convenience; it is a tool that strengthens equality before the law, expands access to justice, and allows the judiciary to transcend procedural rigidities,” the CJI said.
”I am glad to say that now this is not merely an aspiration for the distant future; it is work already underway. The e-Committee is actively building the ‘digital bedrock’ that will allow technology to serve the entire lifecycle of a case and integrate every stakeholder of the justice delivery system,” the CJI said.
In a country as socially and geographically diverse as India, digitisation cannot succeed unless it is accompanied by genuine accessibility, CJI Kant said, adding the establishment of 2,331 e-Sewa Kendras has played an important role in this respect.
”These Kendras provide assistance in accessing case status, facilitate video conferencing, and offer support to those who may otherwise find digital systems difficult to navigate. I am confident that these initiatives will ensure that access to digital justice does not depend on a person’s wealth or linguistic proficiency. Technology must transcend physical and economic barriers, and that must remain our guiding principle,” he said.
The phase III for the e-courts project, which was supported by the Centre with an outlay of Rs. 7,210 crore, was designed to be a decisive reorientation of the entire enterprise, and the vision animating the phase was to carry the promise of digitisation to the remotest corner of our country, he said.
The two-day conference was attended by top court judges, judicial officers, judges of the high court and district judges union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and Jitin Prasada, besides lawyers.
