The survival of any culture in the world is dependent on its legal system to a very great extent. The law reflects the very essence of a civilization. Dispensing justice is a tough job, more so in a Country like India. Even in the seventies it had become very evident that the Indian Legal System was fast becoming overburdened. By the turn of the eighties the situation approached near chaos. Thousands of pending cases crippled the System. Justice delayed, it is said, is justice denied. The search for answers led to computerization as the most viable proposition. The National Informatics Centre stepped in to play a leading role. On March 8, 1995 Justice AM Ahmadi, Chief Justice of India, inaugurated the Judgement Information System (JUDIS), a nationwide caselaw information system for the Supreme Court of India, developed by the National Informatics Centre. JUDIS stands out as a milestone in NIC’s endeavour to provide highly organized computer support to the Judiciary of the Country. In 1992, NIC launched its project for the development of a Court Information System (COURTIS). Today all High Courts are interconnected through NICNET and most of them are taking out automatized daily Cause Lists on computers. Information on cases pending in the Supreme Court is available from any High Court in the Country. Some of the High Courts have also been provided with terminals for recording daily orders, day-to-day judgements, etc.
JUDIS at Work
The first of its kind in India, JUDIS can be best described as a comprehensive on-line library of caselaw that contains all reportable judgements of the Supreme Court of India from 1950 onwards. The repertoire of JUDIS consists of 25,000 judgements and is accessible from any of the 750 nodes of NICNET. Traditionally, legal research has been carried out through use of case citators and index of the sort used in text books. Its disadvantage lies in its inherent dependency on the views of the person who develops it. A case may have many legal issues and is best left to the user to derive his own inference. To sort this out, JUDIS provides a free text-based retrieval system. By providing only the actual text part it is ensured that the user will not miss his own view point.
Simple and Easy
JUDIS is primarily meant for lawyers, judges, law officers, legal officers and litigants. Users will find JUDIS a great help in preparing for their cases. Complete caselaw information is at the disposal of the User. With state-of-the-art technology, many innovative search methods make his session with JUDIS an enjoyable experience. JUDIS provides the facility to find relevant precedents to a case on virtually any subject dealt by the Supreme Court of India. It is also a powerful citator: case citations can be easily found through JUDIS. The User has the complete choice to retrieve any case based on a group of words which is a part of the text of the judgement. JUDIS does not expect the User to follow any pre-designated Subject Headings. He is free to choose his own set of typical words which he feels should be a part of the Headnotes, Acts, etc. There is simply no restriction on the set of typical words.
A long Way to go
The successful development and implementation of an information system such as JUDIS has been possible only because of the active support and co-operation of the Supreme Court. Inaugurating JUDIS, Justice Ahmadi made it amply clear that the introduction of informatics support would go a long way in strengthening the Judicial System of the Country. “I have always been a firm believer that the existing system, if put to proper use, can help us deliver the goods,” he said and added that the innovations brought about by NIC would help meet the increased demands of litigants. “With JUDIS, the demand for retrieval of information on cases will increase very fast. I call upon all judges, lawyers and litigants to actively use it. It is for them to make it successful now”, he appealed. Speaking on the overall impact of computerization on the Judicial System, Justice AM Ahmadi categorically stated that in a very short time computerization would usher in a sea change in disposal of cases. He also pointed out that all that has been achieved so far is just an indication of the potential of computerization and informatics in this field. He is confident that there will soon be a system which will enable the Courts to do away with the long list of pending cases before them. "The system should be so designed that cases on similar subjects pending before the various Courts should be decided with the help of one judgement delivered by the Apex Court", he added. For further information, please contact: Courts Informatics Division National Informatics Centre, A-Block, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110 003. Tlx : 031 - 61274 NICS IN ; Grams : NICNET HQ; Ph: 4364292; Fax : 91 - 11 - 4362489, 4362628 E mail : courtis @X400.nicgw.nic.in