CJI N V Ramana launches software to transmit court orders swiftly

“We took up a suo motu case thereafter and then roped in Justices A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud, Hemant Gupta and others. Orders passed by the Supreme Court and other High Courts have to be transmitted safely without tinkering by third parties,” CJI Ramana said.

In July last year, a Bench headed by the CJI had taken suo motu cognisance of the delayed release of convicts lodged in the Agra central jail even three days after the court had granted them bail. The court then directed the SC Secretary General to submit a proposal suggesting the modalities to implement the FASTER system.

Accordingly, the Secretary General, in consultation with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave presented a report outlining the scheme and rules governing implementation of such a scheme, an official release said.

“As directed by the Bench, the FASTER system is developed on war footing by the Registry in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre,” it added.

To reach all districts of India through this system, so far 73 nodal officers have been nominated at various levels. All nodal officers have been connected through a specific Judicial Communication Network (JCN) by creating a secured pathway.

A total of 1,887 e-mail IDs have been created for this system across the country and a FASTER cell has been established in the Registry of the Supreme Court.

The cell will transmit digitally signed record of proceedings or orders related to bail and release passed by the court to the nodal officers and duty holders concerned through email.

The CJI hoped that in the near future, as part of the second phase of the project, the SC would be able to transmit all records through this system dispensing altogether with the need to share hard copies.