E-courts will bring transparency in legal system: Salman Khurshid

NEW DELHI: The Union Minister for Law and Justice Salman Khurshid today appreciated the e-courts set up in the Delhi High Court, saying it will bring transparency in the legal system and facilitate speedy disposal of cases.

"This (e-court) initiative will help in bringing transparency and faster disposal of court cases," he said at a conference on 'e-Courts: Present and Future'.

Khurshid said the e-court system "is more reliable, faster and efficient than what we have now (in courts)".

He said a data storage and retrieval repository, easily accessible to legal fraternity and common man, should be created.

Supreme Court Justice Altamas Kabir also welcomed the concept of e-courts and said, "It is the need of the hour to ensure that justice to the common man is not delayed or denied...we need this technology to increase our efficiency."

Recalling his days as a judge in the Calcutta High Court, Justice Kabir said, "Back then, in order to trace a record you had to trace the person who can trace the record."

He said when he came to the Supreme Court, the same situation persisted.

Justice Kabir said the solution to this problem of accessing the records can be addressed by digitising them, so that all the information is available "at the touch of a button".

Also, the amount of space and effort required to store records will be greatly reduced, he said.

Acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court A K Sikri said e-courts will be of great help to the judiciary and the common man as court and case management would become easier, delays would be reduced and it would become difficult to mislead litigants.