On March 2, 2020, Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by Rajender Kumar was filed in Madras High Court seeking directions for the High Court’s Registrar-General to implement changes recommended by the petitioner to endorse and evolve more transparency and improve pace of proceedings in Judicial system of Madras High Court.

Rajender Kumar, Director of a non-profit private entity registered under the Companies Act of 1956, urged the court for audio & video recording of the court proceedings; prompt uploading of daily orders & judgments on the court website & provision of Wi-Fi facilities in all court halls besides encouraging the use of monitors, laptops & tablets by judges as well as lawyers.

As per petitioner, the Madras High Court website wasn't as good as the one maintained by the Supreme Court & the Bombay High Court which ensure that every detail of the case is available to the common man at the click of a button.

The petitioner demands the Madras HC website to be upgraded at par with that of the Supreme Court. The representation insisted upon doing away with the practice of listing appeals first for condonation of delay, if any, & then once again for hearing it on merits. The petitioner company said both could happen simultaneously thereby saving time.

High Court Registry responding to raising queries on maintainability of cases and refusing to number them, the representation said it was for the courts & not registry to decide upon maintainability. It insisted on use of monitors by judges, as it was done in the Delhi High Court, to read case papers instead of using hard copies.

Author – Satwik Sharma