The Kerala High Court has approved the establishment of three virtual courts in the State on the lines of those in New Delhi. Besides reducing the burden on regular courts, the virtual court will facilitate adjudication of cases online and do away with the need for litigants to be present in the court.
The proposed system will be operationalised in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode on April 1. The courts would deal with cases pertaining to traffic violations, railway, labour law and municipal cases.
While the Internet-based process is expected to address the increasing backlog of summons and notices, the High Court will depute a ‘virtual judge’ who can view cases along with the automatic computation of fines on an application, according to a press release.
The details of vehicles owned by those who violate traffic rules will be registered through the e-challan system being used by the police and Motor Vehicles Department. The court will initiate legal process against them after identifying the violators.
After the summon is generated, the accused will be able to examine the charges that have been invoked, prior to paying the fine in order to dispose the case. Furthermore, the system will enable the classification of cases by recording the location of the crime using a GPS system. The ‘Vahan’ and ‘Sarathi’ applications of the Motor Vehicles Department will be utilised to record the vehicle’s registration number and its owner’s contact number.
