RANCHI — Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant on Monday, November 2, inaugurated a state-of-the-art data centre, built at an estimated cost of ₹35 crore, along with several key digital initiatives at the Jharkhand High Court premises in Ranchi.
Source: ANI
Addressing the gathering, the CJI said the judicial system must be made more accessible, efficient and responsive through modern technology, stressing that digital innovation must complement, not replace, judicial wisdom and human judgment, PTI reported. "This milestone in the technological modernisation of our courts reflects our continued commitment to building a judicial system that is more accessible, efficient, and responsive to the needs of the people," he said.
Source: PTI
"The true measure of this progress will not be the sophistication of the systems we install, but the difference they make to a litigant waiting for a document, a lawyer preparing for a hearing, or a judge striving to deliver a considered decision," the Chief Justice said, adding that technology is merely a vehicle to deliver timely justice.
The data centre will serve as the digital backbone of the High Court and the subordinate judiciary, housing high-performance GPU servers, centralised storage and backup systems, advanced network security, fire protection and uninterrupted power supply. It is designed to support the Case Information System, the Document Management System, electronic judicial records, video-conferencing and other services under the e-Courts Mission Mode Project.
Six digital initiatives launched
The inauguration coincided with the launch of six digital initiatives, including a new official website of the Jharkhand High Court, an online certified-copy application facility for civil courts, an iOS mobile application for the High Court and civil courts, and a personalised cause-list facility for advocates. Judicial officers across the state will also receive Dragon speech-to-text software kits — which work without an internet connection — and the Supreme Today AI legal-research software.
Justice Ananda Sen, who chairs the High Court's Computer and Digitisation Committee, said the data centre was the first of its kind in the state and that the personalised cause list would let lawyers and litigants track their cases on their phones. The project was supported by the Jharkhand government's Information Technology and e-Governance, Law and Building Construction departments, with technological support from the Jharkhand Agency for Promotion of Information Technology (JAP-IT).
The Ranchi facility is part of the wider e-Courts push to move Indian courts onto digital records, online services and video-enabled infrastructure, even as the CJI underlined that the human element of judging must remain at the centre of the system.