A comprehensive Case Management Tool by National Informatics Centre (NIC) ISHiCo meets the requirements of all high court staff, advocates, litigants, Advocate General Offices, various state Government departments and public. It also provides inputs to various information dissemination channels such as display boards, touch screen information kiosks, SMS Service and web portal.
Integrated Software for High Court (ISHiCo) is running successfully in Punjab & Haryana High Court. It is efficiently providing case related information at the click of mouse. Information is disseminated through various channels i.e. SMS, Web Portal, Touch Screens Kiosks, Display Boards etc. Advocates, Litigants, Departments, Advocate General Offices, Officers and staff of High Court are getting information without any delay. The features like e-Diary, e-Filing, eNotices, Orders/ Judgements, Paperbook availability facilitate users tremendously. Digitization of Judicial records has taken computerization in this High Court to new heights for more efficiency in justice delivery system. National Portal of India i.e. www.india.gov.in has rated the website of this Court (www.highcourtchd.gov.in) as 5 stars. This is the only High Court to get 5 stars for its website.
The High Court of Punjab started functioning at Chandigarh from its present building with effect from January 17, 1955. A new chapter opened in the history of the High Court in the year 1966. The States Re-organisation Act, 1966, brought another State named Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh into existence from November 1st, 1966. From the date of enforcement of the said Re-organisation Act, the High Court of Punjab was renamed as 'the High Court of Punjab and Haryana'.
The High Court of Punjab and Haryana is working since November 1, 1966 in its present form. It is one of the most beautiful High Courts in India. Its location in the lap of Himalayas beyond the limits of the city, beside Assembly Hall and Sukhna Lake add to its beauty.
Punjab and Haryana High Court started efforts to computerize the records way back in year 1993 with deployment of NIC team. In year 1999, Computer Committee was constituted. In the beginning, effort was made to computerize filing, pendency and disposal of cases. During the year 2010-11 long term efforts started with digitization, state of art servers, issuance of computerized certified copies, display boards, touch screen kiosks, development of static website and Local Area Network. From the year 2014 onwards, consolidation of infrastructure resulted in robust and secured platform to consolidate/ launch various litigant centric services. However, with the persistent efforts, support & guidance of Hon’ble Computer Committee from time to time, the project took off well.
Key Features of ISHiCo • Online e-Filing System for filing cases on any where any time basis a step towards paperless Court regime. e-Filed cases are listed on next day of filing while cases filed in hard copy are listed after a gap of one working day. AG Haryana, AG Punjab and UT Administration are filing all cases through e-filing. Till 31-03-2018, 104315 cases filed through online e-filing module available on phhc.gov.in. On an Average 225 cases are being filed daily through e-filing. This system also facilitate case Filing at Counter. Provisions to capture case Details such as FIR, Complaints, lower court case, Land acquisition, Impugned orders, Print Connectivity etc. • Caveat Filing/Registration/Matching on various parameters like FIR, Complaints, Land Acquisition, Lower Court Cases, Impugned Orders, Improvement Trust case etc. • Automated, secure and robust case allocation/ listing as per the roster. • Communication of Case Proceedings to litigants, advocates, departments, AG Offices through SMS, Touch Screens, Digital Display Boards and Web Portal. • Digitally Signed Orders/Judgments to do away with physical file movement for issuance of certified copies. • Workflow based delivery system for certified copy and Inspection Branch to facilitate easy certified copy applying process, costing and preparation and delivery. Mechanism for delivery of uncertified copies in pdf format is also developed and running successfully. On the footprints of Copy branch the computerization of the Inspection branch is also done. • Digitally signed bail orders to lower courts through email to facilitate the release of prisoners in shortest possible time. • Issuance e-Notices to Government departments Advocate General offices and insurance companies • e-Diary System: e-Diary system helps advocates, government departments, Advocate General Offices of Punjab and Harayna, universities, Standing Counsel of UT Chandigarh, Union of India etc. to create personalized diary of their cases to track status, daily orders/ judgments, paper book of any decided case and of concerned pending cases. There is a facility to auto-updation of case information in e-Diary system from High Court Database. Till 31-03-2018, 3,734 e-diary accounts (3,173 Advocates and 561 Departments of Punjab, Haryana, U.T. Chandigarh, Union of India and other States) have been created. • Personnel Information System for Judicial Officers apart from maintaining personal details, qualification, transfers and postings, salary and leave details of judicial officers also displays the proceedings/ judgments given by the Hon’ble High court w.r.t. cases decided by them in lower court and appealed in High Court to improve upon. • Online Paper Book service provides all the scanned paper books wherein State is party through intranet to AG Punjab, AG Haryana, Union of India, and Standing Counsel for U.T. More than 2 lacs paper-books are available on this server. This is the only High Court which is providing Digitized Paper books to Advocates and Departments through their online e-Diary accounts. • Comprehensive Audit logs to increase the accountability. • Only information insert and update is allowed.
Video Conferencing In the states of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh UT, all courts and jails have been provided with VC facility. Punjab and Haryana high Court is the first High Court which has also implemented software based dedicated VC solution (VIDYO) with recording facilities. VC facility is being used for securing the presence of under trials for judicial remand, for recording of evidence of doctors, Judicial Officers, outstation witnesses including NRIs/ foreign citizens and other formal official witnesses etc. This facility has resulted in enormous saving to the state in terms of cost and also man hours of the police officials, doctors and judicial officers etc. apart from saving their time for other official duties. Total amount spent on VC was 10 Crore and total savings on account of travel expenses alone was around 50 Crore. (* Travel expenses of Doctors for evidence recording and Jail inmates for remand work)
Digitization of Judicial record Entire Judicial record of the decided and pending cases amounting 14.7 Crore pages of 26.25 Lakh cases has been digitized resulting in vacating about 15,000 sq. feet valuable space in the High Court complex. 232 tonnes of weeded out waste paper was discharged directly in the pulp tank of the paper mill, thereby eliminating any chance of misuse.
Digitization of MLR/ PMR records The MedLEaPR (Medico-Legal Examination & Post-Mortem Report) System is a workflow based and web based centralized system for preparation of MLR/ PMR, as per legally approved forms related to MLRs and PMRs, which provides requisite access security based on roles & responsibilities of concerned Doctors, Health institutes etc. The software is generic in nature and has been implemented in Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh UT since 2012. Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are also in the process of adopting the same system. All Laboratories (CFSL, FSL, Food Lab, Drug Lab, Chemical Lab, Excise Lab of Punjab, Haryana & Chandigarh) reports have been computerized and linked with MedLEaPR system since 2016. The efforts have been made to integrate Lab reports with CCTNS system and other stakeholders systems.
Information Dissemination Channels The case status and other relevant information like Judgments, orders, notices, paperbook, adjournments, certified copy status, costing, etc. are disseminated by the high court using following channels:
Website Complete up-to-date information regarding cases status is available on the web site of this High Court (https://phhc.gov.in). National Portal of India has rated the website of this Court (www.highcourtchd.gov.in) as 5 stars. This is the only High Court to get 5 stars for its website.
Touch Screen kiosks There are 45 touch screen kiosks installed in the premises of this high court from where the users/ advocates can check the latest status of their cases.
Display Boards The live status of the current listed case in each court can be found on the display boards. They are installed in every Court Room, outside of every court Room as well as in the corridors.
SMS All the case status update information e.g. filing objection, case registration, next date, case status, copy apply, copy preparation, copy delivery, inspection file availability is sent to the concerned parties via SMS. Till 31-March, 2018, around 50 Lac SMSs were sent.
Benefits accrued from Auto-mation • Issuance of certified copies directly from digitized records depository as it is digitally signed. • Availability of records of decided and pending cases for court reference in soft form • Facility of inspection of case files in soft copy from DMS (e-Inspection) • To provide scanned paper books to the offices of Additional Solicitor General of India, Advocates General of Punjab and Haryana, and Senior Standing Counsel, U.T Chandigarh, through ‘paperbook server’ on intranet. • To provide paper books to the all e-Diary account holders. • Use of digitized records for issuance of e-notices by court. • To send digitally signed bail orders to the courts below and the jails for early release of the prisoners. • In cases where notices are accepted by the State counsels in court, the officials from concerned department/ districts used to be called to AG Office to collect copies of paper books. With digitization of entire record, copies of paper books are now sent through e-mail • Any hard copy of paper book, if lost, can be reconstructed without any loss of time, if required. • Digitization has made paperless court a reality. • Physical file movement reduced
Online Services to Various Stakeholders The success of any system depends on the services offered to various stakeholders. In this case the stakeholders are Litigants, Advocates, Departments, Advocate General Offices, Punjab & Haryana High Court staff, Hon’ble Judges. Following services are being offered to various stakeholders
Advocates • e-Filing, Case Filing, Re-filing, Caveat Filing, Certified Copy, Inspection • e-Diary, Paperbook Availability • Status through SMS, Website and Touch Screens • Cause List for Bar • Current status of in progress cases through Display Boards
Litigants • Case Status through SMS, Website and Touch Screens, • Cause List, • Current status of in progress cases through Display Boards, • View orders on website • Status and Costing of Certified copies
Departments • e-Diary, Paperbook Availability, • Case Status through SMS, Website and Touch Screens, • Cause List, • Current status of in progress cases through Display Boards, • View orders on website • Status and Costing of Certified copies • e-Notices to Insurance companies