Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan inaugurates first electronic court in Mumbai

Mumbai: The first paperless electronic court of the Bombay High Court was inaugurated by Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in Mumbai today.

Chief Justice Mohit Shah and all Bombay High Court judges were present when the e-court, presided by Justice Nitin Jamdar, started functioning.

Initially, company matters would be heard and later other cases as well in the e-court.

After the inauguration, a case was taken up for hearing in court room number 47 in the Bombay High Court building and the Chief Minister, the Chief Justice and other judges watched proceedings in the central hall where a screen was put up.

In the e-court room, Justice Nitin Jamdar had a computer on his table instead of files. Whatever pages he went through were also visible on a big screen placed in the same court for the benefit of litigants.

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The Bombay High Court has already started accepting court fees as electronic payments and the initiative has received a good response.

In the e-court, litigants have been asked to file soft copies on a pen drive or a compact disc.

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The date of the presentation of the pen drive or CD shall be deemed to be the date of filing of the electronic petition.

However, as a precautionary measure, petitioners have also been asked to file a hard copy.

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The e-court is a central government initiative to computerise district and subordinate courts as well as upgrade the infrastructure of the Supreme Court and high courts.

Under the project, 2249 courts in 969 court complexes are expected to be computerised by March 31, 2014.

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