To eliminate presence of litigant in the Court and adjudication of the case online, the Punjab and Haryana High Court will launch first Virtual Court on Saturday at Faridabad through video conference.
A spokesman of the Punjab and Haryana High Court said that the Court would be dealing with traffic challan cases of the entire State of Haryana. The project would be launched under the guidance of e-Committee of the Supreme Court of India. Under this project, the cases received in the Virtual Court can be viewed by the Judge along with automatic computation of fines on the screen.
Once the summons is generated and accused gets information on eMail or SMS, accused can visit the Virtual Court web site and search the Case by giving CNR Number of the case or Name of the Accused, or even by Driving License Number etc. Once the accused pleads guilty online, fine amount will be displayed and accused might proceed to pay the fine. On successful payment and realization of fine amount, the case would be automatically disposed of.
The spokesman said that when the accused does not plead guilty, such cases are remanded to the Regular Courts with the respective territorial jurisdiction. The Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Krishna Murari has shown keen interest to launch the project at the earliest for benefit of all the stake holders in justice delivery system.
Chairman of the Computer Committee, Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan has impressed upon the State Governments of Punjab, Haryana and U.T. Chandigarh to waive of MDR Charges on fine amount exceeding 2000. Virtual Court will reduce the burden on regular Courts. The entire process of disposal will happen online in hours. Footfalls in the courts will be reduced considerably as accused need not visit the court for pleading guilty.