From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court to go paperless from July 3 when it starts after the summer vacation, with the introduction of the state of art modern technology. Some courtrooms at the Supreme Court will see two big screens for lawyers to interact with counsel appearing via video conferences. A 120-inch screen for video conferences will be present on one wall of the courtrooms for judges.
Pop-up screens for judges will replace physical copies of documents, and a digital library will replace law-related books.
Judges and lawyers will be able to see changes in the court premises from July 3, the day summer vacations end. These changes will largely apply to courts No. 1, 2 and 3. However, modern technology will gradually make its way to other courts as well.
Some courtrooms at the Supreme Court will see two big screens for lawyers to interact with counsel appearing via video conferences. A 120-inch screen for video conferences will be present on one wall of the courtrooms for judges.
For easy access of documents, judges will also have a document viewer technology, using which, a document can be placed on the machine and can be seen by lawyers on their screens and on the bigger screen as well. Lawyers will have smart screens for their use of reading files and documents.
To streamline the modern technology introduced in some courtrooms, some changes will be made to the furniture. Besides, old fans that were huge in size, will be replaced with new and smaller ones.
Changes in courtrooms were suggested by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, who wants courts to be more tech-friendly. He also wanted court proceedings to go paperless. SC has also come up with issuing slips online to save paper.
Lawyers will now have to inform the court staff about the relevant judgments they will be citing for their arguments. The judgements will be searched online and shared with judges during the hearing. The new display board with some added features will also be placed in the courtrooms.