What is the Justice Clock of Gujarat HC?

Context

  • Supreme Court e-Committee chairperson and SC judge Justice DY Chandrachud inaugurated two digital services for Gujarat High Court a Justice Clock , and electronic payment of court fee.

What is the ‘Justice Clock’ ?

  • An LED display of 7 feet by 10 feet, placed at a height of 17 feet from the ground, has been erected at a busy crossroad near the Gujarat High Court premises. Supreme Court e-Committee chairperson and SC judge Justice DY Chandrachud inaugurated two digital services for Gujarat High court — a 'Justice Clock', and electronic payment of court fee.
  • This ‘Justice Clock’ will exhibit vital statistics of the justice delivery system in Gujarat, to “maximise outreach and visibility” of the work done by the state judiciary.
  • The interface has been designed and developed in-house and will display data from the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) in real-time.
    • A similar format of Gujarat judiciary-related statistics will also be available on the Gujarat HC website under a tab of ‘Virtual Justice Clock’, accessible to all.
  • While the data is already publicly accessible on NJDG’s website, with an option to further distil the statistics district-wise, this new initiative — through the physical LED display as well as the virtual justice clock is aimed at greater accessibility and transparency.
  • “One of the crucial aspects” covered in the content of Justice Clock is the case clearance rate (CCR) for current date, last date, last week, last month, this year and last year.
    • This CCR is kind of a goal which we will set ourselves and we shall strive hard to achieve 100%, where disposal matches the institution (of cases).

What is e-court fee and how will it help?

  • While the online e-Courts fee system was already available for the Gujarat High Court, which was tested on a pilot basis allowing advocate and parties to procure judicial stamps online through electronic payment and upon submission of a PDF receipt, this platform now stands expanded to all district and taluka courts.
  • It will then be verified from within the digital case information system and locked as ‘consumed’, wherein the receipt will be defaced, so as to avoid its reuse or misuse.

Why the two initiatives?

  • The two digital initiatives add to a slew of other digital measures the Gujarat HC has undertaken to cope with Covid-19. 
  • Digital transformation brings in transparency and openness in court proceedings and also provides a glimpse to the public at large of how judges function.
  • One such measure of bringing courtrooms to every device was the initiation of the live streaming of Gujarat HC proceedings.
  • Facilitating electronic payment of court fee becomes essential especially in light of Covid, when physical entry of advocates and litigants have been restricted inside the premises. With electronic payment, the need to physically procure judicial stamp papers and submission of fee is done away with.

Note: The first such ‘Justice Clock’ was installed in the Delhi.

Source: IE

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