Truth, Justice and Bliss are the basic and fundamental nature
of every human being and the social order. Illegality, injustice and disharmony
are choice-less evils that continue to come into existence in the individual and
the society. Judges, Advocates and others associated with them, continue to
work as kidneys of the system, to detox the society. Conflicts, clashes and litigation have continued, since human civilization came into existence. Contract
was created when Shri Ram hugged Sugreev and Vibheeshan
and promised them to be made the king of Kishkindha and Sri Lanka
respectively. A breach would have led to litigation and during that time
resolved by the power of sword, than the power of pen. Justice was done when Shri
Ram executed Raavan, for he had brought about a total imbalance in
the economic structure, by amassing almost the entire gold existing on earth. Legal
relationships, laws, litigation and justice existed even when Information Technology
was not existing and was than more effective, efficient and economical.
In this yug, the age of IT started in 1955 when the
number of white collar employees surpassed the blue collar, in USA and Europe.
When I joined the profession in 1976 in Supreme Court, the settlement of weekly
cause list was carried out by the Registrar at 4:30 pm on every Thursday in the
Chief Justice Court. I had inherited AIR from 1914 onwards, had purchased SCR, Supreme
Court Encyclopedia by Gopala Krishnan provided nominal Table Index, Basu and
Mullah were the authenticated Text Books and Manuals were the source of finding
the precedents. The only way to remain updated and to refrain from cutting a
sorry figure and look around when the judge said “have you looked into the
latest judgment delivered by us”, was to go through the cyclostyled judgments
circulated by SCBA and regularly maintain personal registers. As juniors, we had to run from court to court
and shake shoulders of our colleague to find out, which matter was going on in
the court and go back and tell our senior that he need to rush or need not rush
to that court. Sometimes the matter was already over by the time he could
reach. The bare acts were barely available.
Today all that looks ancient, we get bookmarked cause list on
our mobiles, judgments can be found on tablets and electronic display system
helps us to watch other court even when we are on our legs in the court room. Statutes
are available within hours of their receiving the assent of the President. But
the judges are overburdened by number of briefs and judgments and are at times conscious
about the mounting arrears while disposing the cases. The judges have to read much
more today, to have a total portrait of the true facts, keep their head high and
impart justice without compromising with their conscience, than their
predecessors and one basic reason for that, is explosion of information all
around in multiple formats.
Three things are basic, fundamental and vital in every
litigation and must never be lost sight off.
First, nobody loves advocates. Nobody would
enter the office of an advocate unless he is in real trouble, unless his shoe
is pinching and the nail is not decipherable and professional legal help is
required to resolve the issue and put life in order. There comes the role of
the advocates.
Second, every law or litigation comes into
existence because there is suppression of a will, exploitation of a being by
another and the cry has gone unheard because of some person dominating the
existing social forces, by inhuman means. There comes the role of the Judges.
Third, all judges at all times, sitting in
the temple of justice, see the cause and also see the persons and issues behind
the cause and also the direction in which the society is moving and make all out
efforts to do complete justice between the parties. That is how and why truth
and justice exist and we still have a hope.
The litmus test of evolution and eminence of every
institution today and hereafter will be the extant of use of information
technology made by its stake holders. It
is not difficult to fully understand, appreciate and implement the extant of
use of IT in dispensation of justice, as there is no rocket science involved in
it. The difficulty is in making the stakeholders’ use it in every field of
their activities. Use of IT in courts by NIC will not alone be effective unless,
advocates and their clerks are well trained and tuned to use it.
Use of IT is a great bounty in the hands of us all, as it can
be effectively used for collating, organizing and interlinking information. But
a few things are imperative and if we do not pursue them, IT will be there but
not as handmade to justice, but as money spinner for IT Consultants, hardware
manufacturers and others and a fashion statement by flashing light on our own
face and saying ‘Look! We also use IT”. We have to have a correct complete and
overall picture of the entire litigating process, with the role of each stake
holder well defined and the most important is the economics of each stakeholder.
Every stakeholder in the legal industry is not working as an NGO, using tax payers
money as grants or charities, but we are all here as professionals who are paid
for speaking the truth and we demand respect and reverence, for we hold self -
esteem, dignity and pride, in what we do. Finally we have to watch the vested
interest of those who survive on chaos, confusion and commotion and those who
are supporting them consciously, unconsciously or even remotely, for their interest
is to lead the institution to legal rigor mortis and disgrace.
Look around and see if over 300 existing vacancies of judges in
High Courts are not filled, because the issue is referred to a constitutional
bench or otherwise, if cases are not determined speedily, if justice is not
imparted in time, who is empowered. The answer is obvious, all those elements, whose
very existence is based on presence of injustice, exploitation and poverty in
the society and they are everywhere, from politics to beggars. Social predators
continue to wait for assignment of throwing out tenants, recovery of created
and illegal debts, holdings bandhs and gherao, shouting slogans, stalling
court proceedings, making government fall and making the great nation look mean
and small and IT makes such information available, easier and faster.
The installation of electronic display devices in 1986 in
Supreme Court giving court number and item number was the first step in making
use of IT and today we can get live display boards of all the courts on our
mobile is a long leap, but that took more than 25 years. From getting judgments
of courts on the tablets in a structured format to the ultimate, introduction
of Artificial Intelligence in litigation is a long way to go and will take another
25 years or more, if we start today. Some of the countries are already using Artificial
Intelligence for last over a decade in sentencing policy and other areas.
IT can be implemented
for dispensing justice by moving information seamlessly in the following manner
with ease, if there is a Will to do it:
- Providing Neutral Citation for all
judgments delivered by Supreme Court and 24 High Courts, to eliminate the chaos
created by over 600 law reports published all over the country and now web
judgments. All giving their own independent citations. Neutral Citation was implemented
in Canada, UK, USA and Canada in year 2000, we are just 15 years behind
- Creating database of judgments on
each subject and issues and linking them with the subject index used in the court
for classification of cases and making the data available to Advocates. This
will bring more uniformity in decision making process and assist Advocates to
give meaningful legal opinion to their clients;
- Entering DIN Number, PAN Number,
Adhaar Card No. or any other identifiable number of each litigant, witness,
deponent in each litigation and have a common linked database on litigating
persons and those associated with them. We have over three crore pending cases and
if we are able to create the interlinking database, believe you, me friends, we
will be able to filter about thirty lakh professional criminals and professional
litigants
- Creating a common database of
litigation in which Government or any Article 12 Authority is a party and
sharing it between Courts, Government Department, PSU, Law Department, Attorney
General and Advocate General Office to enable legislature to plug holes where
necessary and put an end to several frivolous litigations and putting them on
notice in similar issues
- Existing data on decided cases should
be moved from High Court Registry to Supreme Court Registry in cases filed in
Supreme Court. This will save enormous costs and man hours of the country;
- Creating and using database on advocates
on number and nature of filings, appearances, written submissions, articles published,
presentations made, conferences attended to have some objective basis for
appointment of advocates as judges to High Courts. Family, chamber, caste
relationship is an anathema for holding such high station and injustice to other
advocates joining the bar;
- Implementation of One Bar one Vote
for each Bar Association by using a common data base of advocates already
available with Bar Council of India and having electronic voting. This will make
the Associations more effective, meaningful and purposeful. Every leader of the
bar will have his defined territories to work on and make them more
professional;
- There is a need of over two million
IT trained clerks or Para Legal Associates to support over one million
advocates in the country and maintain their office;
- Creating database on judgments delivered
by judges of High Courts and how they fared in Supreme Court, to have some
objective basis for appointment of High Court judges to Supreme Court;
- Implementing Court Live to bring
about more transparency and fully implement the avowed principle of open door
justice;
In every case the Judge is on a chess board making whole
hearted efforts to make justice win. On the other side is injustice continuously
digging pits, confusing issues, flashing baits, veiling the truth, creating
non-existent fears to make justice lose. Information technology if used to its full
proper potential, is one of the greatest tool in the hand of judge, to make
quick moves in dispensation of speedy justice. But to make its full use, judges
will have to get all the stake holders trained and aware of interconnected,
interlinked, inter-weaved and interlaced databases on judgments, statutes, subjects,
issues, decisions, litigants, books, articles and a process that filter the
entire information and also suggest possible, probable answers and alternatives,
to enable the judges impart justice for all.
