Amidst the corridors of legal discourse, the Honorable Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud, disclosed on the day of Thursday a progressive stride towards legal transparency. It was declared that the venerable Supreme Court would embark on a journey of disseminating vital information concerning cause lists and case filings to legal practitioners via the platform of WhatsApp.
In commemoration of its 75th year, the Supreme Court has initiated an endeavor to fortify the avenue to justice by intertwining WhatsApp communications with the technological framework of the apex court. Advocates shall be recipients of automated notifications pertaining to case filings, thereby streamlining the procedural labyrinth. The official WhatsApp contact for the apex court was also disseminated, with emphasis on its non-interactive nature.
The proclamation was made in the presence of a nine-judge panel, under the stewardship of the Chief Justice, as they convened to deliberate upon a contentious legal quandary. This pertained to the interpretation of private properties as “material resources of the community” under Article 39(b) of the Constitution, an integral component of the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP).
Further elucidating the initiative, the Chief Justice delineated that members of the legal fraternity shall be furnished with cause lists and schedules of court proceedings directly on their mobile devices, upon their publication. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta hailed this development as a watershed moment, extolling its transformative potential in augmenting accessibility for litigants and legal practitioners.
“This heralds a paradigm shift in our operational dynamics and holds promise for substantial conservation of resources,” remarked CJI Chandrachud. He expounded upon the envisaged impact of this innovation, foreseeing a notable reduction in paper consumption, thereby advancing environmental stewardship.
In a lighter vein, Justice Hrishikesh Roy, a member of the nine-judge bench, remarked on the correlation between digital engagement and youthful appearance, as facetiously noted by the Chief Justice.
Reflecting on procedural intricacies, the Chief Justice highlighted the procedural requisites for availing video conferencing facilities in certain high courts, underscoring the need for anticipatory intimation and age restrictions. He underscored the necessity for streamlining access to such technological resources, eliminating undue bureaucratic hurdles.
Furthermore, the Chief Justice divulged plans for the migration of all judicial services to Meghraj Cloud 2.0, a collaborative endeavor between the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the Supreme Court. This transition, he asserted, would obviate prior constraints stemming from infrastructure limitations, thereby facilitating seamless digital integration. Importantly, he reassured that data sovereignty would be upheld, with all information retained within servers domiciled in India, assuaging concerns regarding cross-border data transmission.