Validity Of Electronic Legal Notices In India

With almost a decade of enactment of information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) and almost five years since Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law and CEO of the exclusive e-courts training and consultancy centre of India (ECTCCI) and of the world suggested the same, the Supreme Court of India has finally accepted the suggestion to send legal notices through e-mails.

The Supreme Court of India on Monday decided to experiment with email notices to respondents to cut the delay in the traditional method of serving notices. A bench comprising of Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia, Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar gave this order.

The bench also clarified that it is not making a new rule but providing for an additional mode for service of notices. The traditional method of notice sending is still kept intact.

The bench also realised that there may be some difficulties in implementing this initiative. It asked all the lawyers present in the court about putting in practice the serving of notice through emails, at least to start with in commercial matters.

This is a good step in the right direction especially after the failure of the e-courts project of India. Due to lack of political and judicial will and techno legal expertise, India is still waiting for the establishment of first e-court in India.

Now at least the Supreme Court of India has started covering the basic aspects related to establishment of e-judiciary in India.

E-Judiciary In India Must Be Established Now

E-courts in India or e-judiciary in India has been in media corners since 2003. However, till now India does not have even a single e-court. While India is busy in press releases claiming opening of e-courts other countries are actually implementing the required measures in this direction. One such court is the Georgia Court of Appeal.

Although e-filing has not yet reached the Georgia Supreme Court, the Georgia Court of Appeals announced yesterday the creation of its EFAST system, which allows members of the Georgia Bar to file briefs electronically. Registration and other information about the new program is available at the Court of Appeals’ website. The impressive aspect about this announcement is the “ability” to file cases electronically.

According to Praveen Dalal, the leading Techno-Legal Expert of India and Managing Partner of Perry4Law no court can claim itself to be an e-court till cases are filed, processed and adjudicated electronically. Without these crucial capabilities, the other measures are just attempts to “computerise” the court’s traditional and ancillary functions, says Dalal.

Now it is abundantly clear that India has in the past claimed opening of many e-courts but till now not even a single case has been delat with electronically. This is because there is no e-court hence there cannot be any disposal of the same electronically.

The Delhi High Court has declared that it is going to open an e-court on 8th December, 2009. It would be interesting to see whether the same would be “another e-court” as claimed to be opened earlier or would it be a real one?

SOURCE: MERINEWS

Best E-Courts Training Firms, Consultants And Experts In India

Law is an ongoing process and so is its adjudication process. This mandates that lawyers and judges must keep themselves abreast of the latest and contemporary legal arenas. Globally, cyber law and other technology laws have posed difficulties before the lawyers and judges to understand and apply these technology laws effectively.

Judges in India need to be Trained in the Techno-Legal Fields like Cyber Law, Cyber Forensics and other Technology Laws. Services of World Reputed Techno-Legal Firms like Perry4Law and world renowned Techno-Legal Experts like Praveen Dalal must be actively sought in this regard. Perry4Law is the exclusive firm in India that also provides Techno-Legal Training, Consultancy and Management Support for effective use of E-Courts in India.

According to Praveen Dalal the proposed opening of E-Court in Delhi High Court in the Month of December, 2009 could be good step in the right direction provided it is not another court in the “papers only”. He informed that India has been claiming opening of e-courts since 2003 and till now not even a single e-court is operational in India despite contrary claims. No court is e-court till cases can be filed and contested in an online environment and till now India has no such capabilities, says Dalal.

No numbers of judicial reforms can succeed till the judicial officers are well versed in contemporary laws and technology laws are proving this concept. It is high time that India must do the best it could do in this regard other than opening e-courts on papers only.

SOURCE: MERINEWS

E-Courts Have Absolutely Failed In India

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has never been a priority of Indian Government. This is more so regarding legal enablement of ICT systems in India. The Government of India (GOI) was never serious about cyber law in India, cyber security in India, cyber forensics in India, etc. On the judicial side as well, there has been no efforts whatsoever in the direction of using ICT for streamlining judicial functioning in India. By and large, E-Courts in India are still missing in India despite the tall claims by GOI. Despite the involvement of GOI, Supreme Court of India, National Informatics Center (NIC), Ministry of Home Affairs, etc this Integrated MMP is a complete failure. Similarly on the front of cyber law, cyber security and cyber forensics as well India has failed miserably.

In fact, Perry4Law, the leading Techno-Legal Firm of India, has found that there has been no work or efforts in the direction of establishment of E-Courts in India. All that the GOI has done is the supplying of laptops to the members of Indian judiciary. According to Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law and leading Techno-legal Experts of India, “There is a clear lack of insight as well as capabilities on the part of Indian Government and others managing the e-courts project in India. Repeatedly the GOI has declared that India has finally established e-courts. The fact remains that there are no e-courts in India and we are not even “close” to achieving that task. With this speed and expertise India needs at least 10 more years to effectively and actually implement e-courts projects in India”.

Interestingly, Perry4Law has already provided the First Update, Second Update, Third Update and Fourth Update regarding e-courts status in India. These updates very clearly show that for the time being, Indian e-courts project has stalled and no development and progress is happening in this regard. It seems we are heading towards another “yearly extension” as in the absence of any action in this regard that is the only natural outcome.

AUTHOR: EDITOR LNAV

SOURCE: ITVOIR