Odisha: Free Wi-Fi Service, e-Inspection Facility Launched for Members of High Court Bar Association

Cuttack: Free Wi-Fi facility and ‘e-Inspection facility for the members of the High Court Bar Association were launched by Dr.Justice S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice in presence of the Judges of High Court of Orissa.

The Advocate General of Odisha, Deputy Solicitor General of India for the High Court of Orissa, newly elected President and office bearers and the members of the High Court Bar Association attended the event.

The High Court of Orissa has been endeavouring to make best use of technology to ensure speedy and quality justice to the public.

Digitization of records, e-filing, e-payment of court fees, paperless courts, e-libraries for the Bar, virtual courts, High Court’s mobile app etc are some of the key e-initiatives undertaken by the High Court. Now High Court has come up with ‘free Wi-Fi facility’ and ‘e-Inspection facility’ forthe benefit of bar members.

To make free Wi-Fi facility available for the bar members access points with provision of 100 MBPS dedicated internet lease line have been installed all over the High Court Campus including the bar association halls for seamless use by multiple users. The bar members will have to search for the advocate SSID in the device and click on it and enter the password to access the internet.

The websites dedicated to the Justice Delivery System can only be accessed through the Wi-Fi facility include Website of the Supreme Court of India, Website of the High Court of Orissa, Official District Court Websites, e-Filing Portal, e-Payment Website, Zoom Website, e-Courts Portal, OHC e-Services, Virtual Court Portal, NJDG Portal, Judgments Portal of the Supreme Court of India / e-SCR and any other website as approved.

To facilitate the bar members for inspection of records e-Inspection facility has been launched. As per the prevailing practice, application for inspection is filed before the Additional Deputy Registrar under rules contained in Chapter-XXIII of the Rules of the High Court of Orissa, 1948 and the applicant has to wait for considerable time for arrival of the physical record. After digitization, the records are available in softcopies. Through e-inspection facility the Bar members can apply online for inspection and once approved will be able to see the softcopy of record in a dedicated computer system within minutes without having to wait for the physical record.

The inauguration Chittaranjan Swain, Secretary, High Court Bar Association thanked the Chief Justice for the free Wi-Fi facility and e-Inspection facility and said it would help the lawyers in many ways. Speaking on the occasion Dharanidhar Nayak, President, High Court Bar Association said the two new facilities were gifts by the Chief Justice to the bar. He highlighted the importance of technology in justice delivery system.

Ashok Kumar Parija, Advocate General lauded the efforts of Dr S Muralidhar in upgrading the working condition of lawyers as well as employees as the Chief Justice. He said the High Court has marched well ahead under the leadership of the Chief Justice.

Speaking on the occasion Justice Subhasis Talapatra said the lawyers will be immensely benefitted by the two new facilities and urged the lawyers to use the Wi-Fi facility for research work. He informed the Bar members that the High Court would be taking up the task of making the High Court judgments available for the lawyers through a search engine like the e-SCR of the Supreme Court of India.

Delivering the keynote address Chief Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar said the covid-19 pandemic taught the legal fraternity the use of technology and particularly in Odisha the hands-on training for the lawyers and law clerks helped a lot in adaptation of technology. Citing the example of growing use of mobile phone he said that technology is something which can be learnt more through constant use. He added, society has moved ahead with technology and the lawyers have to keep pace with the change as the rate of change in technology is much quicker than one can imagine. The Chief Justice said the artificial intelligence would help the lawyers to organize themselves and arrange their work and urged the lawyers to adapt the best practices of their counterparts in other states. The Chief Justice urged the newly elected President of the Bar Association to organize a workshop for the lawyers on “law and technology” and advised the young lawyers to see the live streaming of court proceedings of different countries for their learning.

This initiative of the High Court has been hailed by the legal fraternity.