The Chief Justice of Madras High Court Amreshwar Pratap Sahi on Friday inaugurated e-service centres in the principal seat of the court in Chennai as well as its Madurai Bench. The facility is aimed at assisting litigants and lawyers in e-filing of cases, scanning documents and also for conduct of virtual courts in the future.
While Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, chairman of the computer committee of the High Court, was present at the e-service centre inside the court campus here, the Chief Justice inaugurated the facility from his home office in Greenways Road and the entire event was streamed live with judges from Madurai also joining through video conference.
Since the High Court had already commenced e-filing of cases beginning with bail and anticipatory bail petitions alone and had planned to extend the facility in a phased manner for filing of other cases too, the e-service centres would assist people in scanning their documents, converting them into pdf files and uploading them on the e-courts website.
They would also be provided with assistance in attending hearings through video conference and knowing the status of their cases. Appreciative of the good work done by the computer committee, the Chief Justice said, it was defining moment for the High Court in the progress towards e-governance and this pilot project should be extended to all districts.
If similar e-service centres were established in all districts and they were operated round-the-clock with introduction of shift system for employees, it would become very easy for the litigant public to approach the High Court, he said. The CJ also suggested that work should be done in the direction of overcoming connectivity problems faced during conduct of virtual courts.
