Litigants cannot be burdened for judges’ unease with use of technology: CJI Chandrachud

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that litigants cannot be burdened because judges are uneasy with technology.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that litigants cannot be burdened because judges are uneasy with technology.

He said that the judiciary and the judges have to embrace technology for the benefit of litigants. CJI Chandrachud exhorted the High Courts across the country to continue using technology enabling hybrid hearings, pointing out that such facilities were not meant for use only during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said In one of his verdicts which he was editing last night, the CJI said that some High Courts have disbanded video conference system, but the infrastructure was in place.

Talking about his recent correspondence with Chief Justices to allow lawyers to appear virtually, he said the question was not about the infrastructure, but whether the judiciary was using it?

He said he was receiving a lot of PILs from lawyers across India that hybrid hearings have been stopped. He appealed to the Chief Justices not to disband the infrastructure and that technology was not confined to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it was for Covid and beyond.

He said the top court of the country recently launched a new version of its e-filing portal for crowd testing. As per the CJI, they have engaged with lawyers and clerks of lawyers and were in final stage and that it was called awareness.