Jammu: On Wednesday, the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, told the Judicial Officers that they need to live up to what the people expect of them.
In his speech after laying the foundation stone for the new High Court complex of J&K and Ladakh at Raika in Jammu, the CJI called the Judicial Officers “frontline warriors” and told them to live up to the expectations of the people who want justice. This is what an official spokesman said in a statement.
“We try to make sure that everyone, no matter how poor or disadvantaged, has access to justice. “The building of the new HC complex and the new IT initiatives are the first steps towards changing the way justice is given,” he said.
The CJI also said that women should be encouraged to take part in delivering justice in a positive way.
He said that starting in July, if there was a hearing for the new trial, automatic listing would be used instead. Due to the difficult geography of J&K and Ladakh, he pushed for the use of new technologies to help people get justice even if they live in remote, rural, hilly, or dangerous areas.
“Document Management System” (DMS) and “National Services and Tracking of Electronic Processes” (NSTEP) will be used starting today, the CJI said.
Concerned about how few women are in the legal system, he said that the trend was the same all over India and that J&K, where only two of the 124 High Court judges are women, was no different.
During the event, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha praised everyone in the court and law community and thanked the Centre for its help with the big project.
He said, “The new HC complex for J&K and Ladakh will be an integrated building with modern infrastructure and facilities.”
Sinha praised the Supreme Court’s e-Committee and the Department of Law and Justice for their work to use new technologies like artificial intelligence to make court processes more efficient and smooth.
“The fact that e-Court services get a million hits a day shows that citizen-centered efforts, easy access to justice, and digital empowerment are working,” he said.
“In the 75 years since India became independent, democracy institutions have fulfilled the hopes and dreams of ordinary people. As a guide light, our constitution has made sure that everyone has wealth, socioeconomic growth, and respect,” the LG said.
He said that the two important IT projects for the High Court and all district courts that were launched on Wednesday would make the legal system open to everyone and easy to use.
Sinha talked about the latest steps taken in J&K to improve the way courts use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
He also talked about the IT projects that the J&K government was working on to make government more open, responsible, and quick.
Brig. (Ret.) B.D. Mishra, the Lt. Governor of Ladakh, made a long speech about basic responsibilities. He stressed that democracy must be protected by making sure that the principle of fairness is kept.
On the same day, the National Service and Tracking of Electronic Process (N-STEP) system for local courts and the Document Management System (DMS) for the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were also started.
Arjun Ram Meghwal, who joined virtually as Union MoS for Law and Justice, Parliamentary Affairs, said that he hoped the DMS and N-STEP facilities would be breakthroughs in the technology sector and speed up the pace of development and progress.
He promised the Government of J&K that it would get all the money it needed to improve the legal infrastructure.
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, a judge on India’s Supreme Court, Justice Pankaj Mithal, a judge on India’s Supreme Court, and Justice N Kotiswar Singh, the chief justice of the High Court of J&K and Ladakh, all spoke at the event.
