India could soon have 24x7 virtual courts to dispose of all sorts of cases

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

virtual courts to dispose of all sorts of cases. To make it happen, The law ministry has invited proposals from judicial academies, law universities, IIMs, and IITs to conduct a comprehensive research study on the subject, reported TOI. «The concept is aimed at reducing footfalls in the courts by eliminating the physical presence of violators or advocates in the court,» the law ministry said in its notice inviting proposals, which are to be submitted by August 1.

Virtual courts can be managed by virtual judges whose jurisdiction can be extended to the entire state and whose working hours may be 24/7, the notification further stated on the terms of reference of the study. «Neither litigant need to come to court nor judge will have to physically preside over the court. Thus, precious judicial time will also be saved,» it has said.

As part of its action research programme, the law ministry often conducts research studies involving these reputed institutions for justice delivery. The institutes which will be awarded the project will have to come out with «innovative suggestions and proof of concept based on extensive research studies that can be further extended to try other types of cases through virtual courts». A study proposal has also been invited for assessing the performance of commercial courts, including their performance, adherence to timelines for the disposal of commercial cases.

At present, there are 21 virtual courts in 17 states and Union Territories. All of them deal with the disposal of traffic challan cases. «More than 2.4 crore cases have been handled so far, and in over 33 lakh cases, online fines of over Rs 360 crore have been realised,» according to the ministry.