NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India is organising a National Conference on ‘Addressing Issues Faced by the District Judiciary’ on February 1, 2025.
Judicial Reforms: SC’s Plan to Tackle Case Backlog and Enhance Efficiency
The conference will include four technical sessions following introductory remarks by Chief Justice of India, Justice Sanjiv Khanna. The first session, chaired by the Chief Justice of India, is an endeavour to bring together the experience and knowledge of each High Court and chart the course for judicial reforms for efficient and timely case disposal, and narrowing the gulf between institution and disposal of cases.
Leveraging Technology for Justice Delivery: SC’s Focus on Digital Courts
According to an official, the session aims to deliberate upon implementation of Policy and Action Plan- 2024 prepared by the National Court Management Systems (NCMS) Committee, identifying bottlenecks in case disposal and devising strategies to reduce backlog of cases at different levels.
Addressing issues regarding the functioning of Family Courts and Special Courts; exploring feasibility of having Evening Courts, expeditious disposal of cases through Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms and similar issues faced by the High Courts will also be discussed.
Chaired by Justice B R Gavai, Judge, Supreme Court of India, the second session will focus on ushering uniformity in case categorization and leveraging technology for justice delivery. The session proposes to discuss uniform nomenclature and code for each case category; incorporating the use of information technology such as -Digital Courts Software; e-filing; Virtual Courts, Video Conferencing, transcription facility etc along with effective use of e- Sewa Kendras/ e-Kiosks.
Digitization of case records and introduction of e- Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (e-MACT) will also be included in the conversations during this session.
Justice Surya Kant, Judge, Supreme Court of India, will chair the third session aimed at addressing issues pertaining to human resources in the District Judiciary. Timely and institutionalized recruitment of Judicial Officers and Court Staff; continual recruitment/empanelment of Public Prosecutors/Legal Aid Counsels/ Legal Aid Defence Counsels and creation of a permanent IT and Data Cadre in all High Courts & District Courts will be deliberated upon during the session.
The concluding session will be marked by its focus on enhancing professional proficiency. Chaired by the Chief Justice of India, career progression and continuous performance evaluation of Judicial Officers; mentoring of Judicial Officers by Inspecting Judges as well as State Judicial Academies; establishing common curriculum for training, capacity building and continuing education of Judicial Officers will be discussed as an integral part of this session.
