Court reform has no takers

We have to devise a system which ensures qualitative appointments. I strongly felt that the commission/ committee should include expert members drawn from the fields of management, administration and technology. The Bar should also be represented. The terms of reference should be as wide as possible. The whole idea is to achieve reform by remodelling, if necessary. The prime minister felt convinced. It seems that the matter was referred to the Union law ministry. However, there were no signs of any actual initiatives from the government — the idea has remained just wishful thinking till date.

On commencement of my tenure as CJI I had, against all odds, also got an e-committee appointed which acted at super speed. After collecting all the relevant data and analysing it within a record time of seven months — after working day and night — the e-committee prepared a ‘Five Year Plan’ for the total introduction of IT in the judiciary. The PM launched the Five Year Plan which needed a meagre amount of Rs 800 crore only for the total computerisation of the judicial system, interlinking the lowest court in any corner of the country with the high courts and Supreme Court. After demitting my office, I note that not much headway has been made. Very recently, I learnt that the project has been shelved by the bureaucracy. It was destined to meet this bureaucratic end. I feel very sorry. If only the things had moved in the right direction, we could have had paperless courts at the end of five years.

The writer is a former chief justice of India