SC case records to be digitised

NEW DELHI: At least 2.50 crore pages tagged in files relating to lakhs of cases disposed off by the Supreme Court since 1951 will be available on computer.

The premier information technology centre, National Informatics Centre (NIC), has begun the job of digitising the dusty bundles. Supreme Court secretary general VK Jain said on Thursday that the digitisation process would cost about Rs 1.67 crore.

Realising the urgency of computerisation of courts and e-dispensation that links the apex court with subordinate courts, the government will spend Rs 411 crore in the first phase. President Kalam will launch the ‘e-courts’ project here on Monday.

Though Jain hoped that the ambitious e-dispensation would bring in more transparency and speed up disposal of cases and decrease adjournments, he refused to agree with the possibility of court computerisation programme facing hostility from officials and lawyers.

Jain added, "Everyone must know that they have to change. We have to adopt more tools to overcome the problem of backlog of cases."