Jaipur: Rajasthan High Court has mandated an urgent revamp of its paperless court system, instructing that all documents for each case be scanned, indexed and uploaded on the same day.
The bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand has taken serious note of the lethargic and casual approach adopted by the stakeholders involved in digitisation of the case files, leading to demonstrated delays in uploading of documents on the portal of the paperless module.
Dhand observed that suitable amendments were needed in the standing order passed by Registrar General on Nov 2, 2020, delineating roles and responsibilities of HC staff for scanning of criminal cases. It held that the standing order could not be limited to criminal matters anymore.
The court observed that the introduction of the paperless module in court is a revolutionary step towards achieving speedy, transparent and accessible justice. Paperless functioning is not merely a technical upgradation but a “paradigm shift in the justice delivery system” that saves time, reduces Registry’s burden, minimises loss of records and ensures 24×7 accessibility.
The court was hearing a petition through Paperless Module 2.0, in which it was found that the main petition was not uploaded on the portal and only the stay petition was uploaded. The court had called for explanations from the concerned persons.
The concerned clerk and the firm assigned the work of scanning and digitisation of case files of the court furnished their explanations, which were found to be unsatisfactory.
“Almost every day, such casual approach was adopted by the persons responsible for uploading of various court documents on the paperless module, that caused difficulty to the courts working on paperless module,” the court said.
It was held that unless accountability was fixed, the dream of paperless court shall remain only on paper.
Accordingly, registrar was directed to place the order before Chief Justice from the administrative side, for seeking approval to issue a comprehensive and amended standing order.
