Supreme Court of India (Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)In a major development, a virtual court of the Supreme Court on Monday (1 June) went completely paperless registering a major first for the judiciary which is known to consume a staggering 10 billion sheets of paper annually, reports Times of India.
The virtual court number three of the top court witnessed on Monday the three judges of the bench, Justices DY Chandrachud, Hemant Gupta and Ajay Rastogi walk in with their laptops, while the usual stack of case files besides their chairs were missing.
The judges heard the cases on their laptops, as most lawyers connected through video links. Many of them were using paper case files though.
It should be noted that the first move to make the top court's proceedings paperless was initiated in 2017 by the then chief justice of India (CJI) JS Khehar. However, citing shortcomings in the software designed for court-work, Justices had expressed their discomfort with the development then.
The new software allows for Justices to make notes on the computer screen with special pens, and these notes can be preserved confidentially. It also provides for storage of law clerk's notes and Justice's notes separately.
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