Computerisation of Indian Courts

 This is the second post of the series 'FOSS INNOVATION IN INDIAN COURTS: Inspired by the Allahabad High Court'. It talks about how computerisation and digitisation of records is being done in the courts.

FOSS INNOVATION IN COURTS: Inspired by the Allahabad High Court

Introduction|| Computerisation of Indian Courts|| 

The goal of Computerisation of courts and digitisation is being done in the following ways:

• Every High Court has a computer committee that overlooks computerisation of the High Court and district courts in their State. So far as Allahabad High Court is concerned, it was established in mid 1980s. It started computerisation through Uttar Pradesh Development Systems Corporation Ltd. (UPDESCO), a State Nodal Agency for providing services related to IT and ITeS. 
• In 1990, some technical posts were also sanctioned in Allahabad High Court and computer experts were appointed. The programme continued with their help. Similar was the case at other High Courts as well.
• Central government also started computerisation of Indian Courts in mid 1990s through National Informatics Centre (NIC) established under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
• Later, around 2004, an e-Committee was established by the government of India to assist in formulating a national policy on computerisation of the Indian judiciary and to advise on technological, communication, and management-related changes.  It implements its programme through NIC.
• E-Committee and NIC look after computerisation of the Supreme Court and its website. They also look after  websites of the District Courts in India. 

The goal of the aforesaid is one and the same, namely computerisation of the courts and digitisation of the records. They work together but sometimes differ in methods of achieving the goal.

Initially, computerisation was being achieved through proprietary software but at the turn of the century, Allahabad High Court differed with the NIC and later with E-Committee. It adopted FOSS to achieve the goal however, initially NIC and E-Committee continued with the proprietary software.  

There were difficulties in adopting FOSS at Allahabad High Court, but it succeeded and our success story, changed the attitude of the E-Committee. Once the attitude of the E-Committee changed, its implementation through NIC also changed.

In our next post, we will talk about how and why FOSS was introduced in the Allahabad High Court.  

इस इस चिट्ठी को हिन्दी में यहां  पढ़ा जा सकता है।

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