The web counter and the kiosk which were inaugurated by Acting Chief Justice DN Patel on August 3 last at Ranchi Civil court premises have proved helpful for both the lawyers as wells litigants.
Hailing the initiative taken by Justice Patel, Ranchi District Bar Association (RDBA) General Secretary Sanjay Vidrohi said that such counters will help checking corruption and bring transparency in the legal process.
“These web counters will definitely help in checking corruption in the legal process as the ‘Nazrana’ (douceur) being demanded by the ‘Peshkars’ (bench clerks) will not be asked for giving any information regarding the next date,” said the RDBA general secretary. “litigants will also feel relieved as they would not have to run around court clerks to see the day to day orders pronounced by the respective courts,” he added.
“The whole system is likely to get revitalized as court clerks demand money from litigants at every stage to inform them about the status of their cases,” said Vidrohi. He, however, demanded at least 10 such web counters be set up in the civil court premises so that people do not have to queue up for getting information related to their cases.
Another lawyer was of the view that the facility will also help in saving time and energy of the litigants as any information related to their case could be obtained through it.
“Any information related to a case, be it the next date, status or the last order is just a click away through the web counter located just inside the court premises as getting a certified copy of the last date takes at least 4-5 days,” said a DlSA retainer lawyer Kirti Naryan Singh. Demanding ‘Nazrana’ by bench and office clerks has become a traditional practice in the legal process which needs to be removed to make it clean, he added.
“As day to day orders and the dates related to any case could be obtained from the web counter, it will also bring transparency in the legal process and no lawyer will be able to misguide the clients anymore,” said Singh. This counter, however, needs to get popularized as most of the people are unaware of the facilities being provided there, he added.
In order to make people aware of the web counter, DlSA has deputed two of its para legal volunteers — Vicky Kumar and Chanchala Kumari— to make them aware of the facilities provided here.
“We have been given a pamphlet to distribute among the litigants and also among the lawyers so that they could know what all facilities are being provided here. We are getting a good response after the awareness campaign was started on August 25 and a long queue could be seen before the touch screen kiosk,” said PlV Vicky Kumar. Web counter however, still to gain momentum as only 15-20 people turn up on a day to enquire about their cases, he added. we are also telling the lawyers and also the litigants how to operate the touch screen kiosk to obtain information through it,” said the PlV.