Agartala: As part of his four-day visit to Northeast, the Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde inaugurated the e-Sewa Kendra at Tripura High Court on Wednesday. The event which was also attended by the Chief Justice of Tripura High Court A.A. Kureshi saw the beginning of the e-Services in Tripura which will be employed hereafter for accessing case-related information and status.
The e-Services in Tripura have been facilitated under the e-Courts project with a view to bringing transparency in legal proceedings, and ease of access to information related to ongoing or past trials and cases. Taking note of the state's advancement and keenness in technology, CJI Bobde shared that he did not know Tripura was so advanced in terms of technology. He said, "I was 'acutely conscious' that this technology is such that it is going to make justice 'technology-dependent'. But the other option was to shut down the court, which was not possible, particularly for the high courts and the Supreme Court."
Acknowledging the system of e-Sewa Kendras as a whole, he said that this system will take people closer to the court room proceedings and give the common litigants as well as the lawyers an easier way to information. In his words, "The access to justice became dependent on the possession of this technology. It is a great idea and I think to have e-Kendras like the one I have inaugurated will give more access to courts."
In the event, Justice A.A. Kureshi spoke about the ceaseless running of the country's legal institutions amidst Covid lockdown by conducting virtual courts. He said, "The use of technology in justice delivery is not new phenomena, but the spread of coronavirus pushed us into accepting and adopting new technology in a furious space. In the process we realized that technological advances can do wonders in the judicial system."
CJI Bobde reached Tripura on Wednesday from his Mizoram tour and had visited the state's famous Tripur Sundari temple before coming to the inauguration. The incumbent CJI is currently at his four-day Northeast visit which began from Assam in December 19.