Indian judicial system is overburdened and technology can help it in reducing the growing arrears of cases in India. However, there is a problem in adopting and using technology for legal and judicial purposes in India. Legal enablement of ICT systems in India is missing and this makes the use of technology for legal and judicial purposes almost impossible in India.Take the example of national litigation policy of India (NLPI). Although it carries lots of legal and judicial reforms yet when it comes to use of technology, it is silent about that aspect.
Technology can be used in legal and judicial system of India in many forms. For instance, online dispute resolution (ODR) can be used for resolving many cases out of court as well as while they are pending in courts. Presently, ODR in India is seldom used except by few ODR providers of India.
Similarly, technology can be used for establishing e-courts in India. Unfortunately, till the month of January 2011, we do not have even a single e-court in India. We are still waiting for the establishment of first e-court of India.
E-courts in India cannot be established till we have good techno legal expertise to manage this mission mode project. India has a single techno legal e-courts training and consultancy centre. Obviously, lack of expertise is hindering use of technology for ODR and e-courts purposes in India.
Law minister Veerappa Moily must urgently take some effective and concrete measure so that technology can be an integral part of Indian legal and judicial system.
