E-initiatives like e-filling, e-payment of court fees, digitisation of all court records, hybrid hearings, paperless courts, e-libraries and live streaming of court proceedings have tremendously enriched the ends of justice in Orissa High Court in the past two-and-half years. Outgoing Chief Justice S. Muralidhar, who pioneered this initiative, is credited for this achievement of the High Court.
Adding feathers to the already decorated e-initiatives of the High Court, the Chief Justice, on the last day of his in office on Monday, dedicated two more e-initiatives—Warrant Management System and PIL Portal, for the benefit of all stakeholders, including police. Justice Muralidhar is retiring on the day, while Justice Subhasis Talapatra will be sworn in as the new Chief Justice on Tuesday.
Warrant Management System is a portal of the High Court developed in coordination with State Crime Records Bureau to ensure expeditious transmission and tracking of warrants. The portal has the facility of issuing warrants to the police, tracking the status of execution and acknowledgment of execution. While this facility was available for the Cuttack district, the same was on the day extended to seven other districts.
While dedicating the facility, Chief Justice Muralidhar expressed concern over the pendency of a huge number of unexecuted warrants and said: “It is not in the interest of the Rule of Law if the executing arms of the court are unable to submit a compliance report in respect of the warrants forwarded to them.” He further informed that as many as 61,000 non-bailable and 57000 bailable and 3700 distress warrants, and 600 recommitment are now pending.
Similarly, the PIL portal is a tool through which the public can know about the important PILs in the High Court, its relevant orders, and reports that will also be beneficial to researchers and students.
