Assemblage of electronics and telecommunications proclaims that knowledge is universal and it is nobody's domination any more. One has to wait and see the creation of the revolutionary technology of the twentieth century.

The day is not far, when a Judge sitting in a courtroom will be examining the case records on the flat screen of the computer laid on his tabletop. On touching buttons of the computer the Judge will be able to turn pages of the case records, documents, video record the evidence, of the witness and record arguments advanced by the counsel, hurt for the case references and citation of different decisions and on conclusion of the hearing of the case deliver his order or judgment by dictating to the microphone attached to the computer with the help of Voice Recognition Software. A certified copy of the judgment or order delivered by the court can be obtained on line on the website or in the certified copy counter of the Court.

Its only a question of time, when Hon'ble Judges of the Supreme Court sitting in e-Court room at Delhi in front of life size LCD projector screen will be able to view the learned counsel advancing arguments at e-Court Bench of the Supreme Court of India, stationed at Guwahati. Similarly, Learned Counsel at e-Court Bench of the Supreme Court at Guwahati will be replying to the queries of the e-Court of the Supreme Court, on a life size LCD projector screen.

All these may hear like excerpt from a science fiction, but the advancement Information Technology has established ardently that speed and accuracy is bound to radically change the future of the civilization.

The fundamental principle behind justifying the existence of any judicial system is to ensure dispensation of justice at the earliest opportunity. In a democracy like ours, Judiciary plays significant role in adjudicating the rights of the litigant public. It has been established beyond doubt that with the help of Information Technology the process of dispensation of justice can be made easier, more convenient, accurate, less time consuming, less expensive involving lesser manual labour. Introduction of Information Technology in court management has reduced the movement of files and records attended by transparency in the entire system of administration of justice.

Needless to say, to accomplish an attractive outcome with the use of Information Technology, keenness of Officers of the court is an essential pre-requisite.

Judiciary in India is caught in a vicious cycle of delays and backlogs. As a matter of fact backlog of cases causes frustrating delay in the adjudicative process and at the same time, backlog of cases causes frustrating delay in the adjudicative process and at the same time, backlog puts extreme pressure on the existing process of adjudication. This development grows on with no noticeable solution just around the corner.

The reason for delay in the administration of justice is both systemic and subjective, which may be a result of adversarial or accusatorial character of the civil process practiced in our justice system, which, it is said, provides wide maneuvering power to the lawyers. Slow service of summons further slow down the process, which effectively stays the trial and delays and disposal. Interim relief, injuctio9ns and orders delay the hearing of the main issues. The lack of resistance on adjournment and reluctance to limit adjournments on the pretext of heavy workload perpetrate laws delay. Long drawn out process of litigation may financially benefit the 'gensde-robe' as well as profit the vested interest of the concerned parties, but the disposal of litigation is delayed. Sometimes, interlocutory orders and appeals may also fragment the main case into many parts and ultimately delaying the disposal. The system and the statute also grant abundant scope for frequent amendments of the plaint and written statement. Statutory non-compulsion to use pre-existing rules and orders to expedite the trial, coupled with absence of accountability, give advantage to conduct the case the way it suits ones own interest. There is no scope for client –to- client interaction; thus any possibility of alternative dispute resolution is virtually nipped in bud. Failure of the parties to present witnesses sometimes is deliberate to delay disposal. Inadequate administrative and logistic support system for the Courts with huge workload on the shoulders brings down the administration of justice to a screeching halt.

Addressing a batch of subordinate court Judges in a refresher course organized by the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy, Hon'ble Mr. Justice K.T.Thomas , former Judge of the Supreme Court of India said, " people in Mumbai were seeking not the assistance of law courts to settle the disputes but the help of the mafia. These, be said, were distant hoof beat of a forthcoming danger and do not mistake the hoofs for those of Zebras, but they are the sounds of incoming militancy of horses". Hon'ble Mr. Justice Thomas noted in his speech that computerization provided the only suitable solution to the problem of backlog of cases.

Good court administration is an essential prerequisite for quick disposal of litigation. A good court administration has been described in many different ways. In simple terms it may be explained to imply :

1. Efficient record-keeping and systematic filing of the cases with the help of computers.
2. Computers supported subject wise classification of cases.
3. Monitoring of cases on the basis of the stages they have reached with the help of computers.
4. To indentify dead cases in order to prevent the clogging of other schedules.

Well- organized court administration is indispensable for orientation and control over pending cases. Court administration is required to help the court instantly with any information it needs for effective case management. Court staff equipped with modern technologies like Information Technology is indispensable for good administration.

Information Technology needs of the Judges are diverse. A Judge would like to know the judgments in cases similar to the one he is going to take up, delivered by his court or any other superior court. If the information is available in his personal computer or laptop he can prepare himself easily before coming to the court. If such information were stored in computer the judge would be able to get a list of precedents on the touch of a button without conslting the librarian or the books. This helps the Judge to deliver judgments and orders without deviation from the established law.

With the help of Voice Recognition Software a Judge can dictate a judgment to the computer, which will directly convert such dictation into a readable language. This will not only minimize dependence on staff of the court but also save time.

In the subordinate courts, the Judicial Officer need to record evidence of the witness in presence of under-trial prisoners. On many occasions, criminal trials get adjourned for absence of the under trials in the court for want of security escorts from jail resulting in unnecessary and avoidable adjournments. Here again, application of video conferencing facility, from the court to the prison where the under-trials are housed, will be able to take care of the problem. Video conferencing service will not only help in avoiding unnecessary adjournments of cases but also save lot of money on transportation.

A computer placed on the tabletop of a judge will also help to balance the number of cases on a particular date on the touch of a button. A Judge may also like to record important piece of the arguments advanced by a counsel through audio visual system, this will enable the judge, to remember the arguments, while dictating the judgments.

Information Technology will be equally useful for the legal professional. Fresher in the legal profession will not have to strive hard to learn the intricate procedure followed by the courts in filing case. Rules of filing may be made available in the website and the new comers to the profession will be able to guide themselves with the information available in the website. After the petition is submitted in the filing counter, a lawyer does not have to wait to see the case number, he may collect the case number and other details of listing by browsing any of the website of the court or the "Kiosks" placed inside the Court premise.

An advocate will only be able to easily excess the next day's cause list, on the Web, at the end of the day, but also will be able to sort out cases where he is appearing as an advocate. When an advocate visits the court, for advancing arguments, he can avoid carry huge volume of books for the purpose of citing relevant decisions in the court, instead he will easily carry a floppy in his pocket and argue his case by attaching it to his Laptop computer whenever necessary. This will not only be of assistance to the advocate but may change the complexion of the arguments in the court. An advocate will be able to see the order passed by the court on the website and will be able to obtain a certified copies without really applying for it and waiting for a week to 10 days to receive the certified copies. Information Technology will be able to make it possible. In this way, it is apparent that the Information Technology will be able to make it possible. In this way, it is apparent that the Information Technology will be of immense help to an advocate.

Information Technology needs of registry of the courts are numerous. In the filing counter, court fees can be automatically calculated with the help of computer. The filing clerk will be able to calculate the time limitation of the case presented before him for registration with the help of the computer installed in the filing counter.

When a case is free from filing defects, computer will register automatically basing on the existing procedures. Information Technology will not only reduce much of the work of the registry, but it will also speed up the filing process for the benefit of the advocates and thus lessen the job of the registry.

The computers can allocate listing of the cases automatically to various courts depending on the subject category and the availability of courts on a given day. Information Technology tools will generate cause lists automatically and send it to the advocates by electronic mails or make it available on the web for providing easy access to the advocates and litigants.

Thus, the Registry will be behind the screen and serve the information needs of the advocates and the litigants in a more efficient manner. Information Technology can help the registry in maintaining the mandatory records in the form of hard copies as well. It will also be able to generate the required status information of pending and disposed of cases for answering Parliament/Assembly questions.

In the High Court, computer generates cause list automatically, in consequence manual intervention is eliminated ensuring publication of cause list in time without any irregularities, strictly in chronological order.

All cases having the same law point(s) to be decided by the courts can be bunched/grouped and posted before one Bench for disposal with the help of Information Technology. This will help the courts to expedite disposal of cases.

When information is in the computer, it will become simpler to recall dismissed cases when review petitions are filed. Information Technology will lend a hand to the registry of the court, in streamlining its day-to-day activities, which is one of the intents of the Court management.

If all the judgment of the courts can be made available in the computer, it will not only save a lot of time for judges and advocates in locating precedents, but also save a lot of space in maintenance of a law library. Even an ordinary litigant also will be able to find out precedents on his own.

Cause lists of the court are made available on interned in such a way that advocates can generate their own cause list consisting of their own cases, thus avoiding them to go through hundreds of pages of the cause list to locate cases. If for any reason advocates name is not appearing in the cause list, retrieval can be made through the name of either the petitioner or the respondent. It is also possible to generate and print' court-number-wise," Judge wise' cause list or the entire cause list if required. As the computer application is available on Interned almost immediately after court hours, a litigant public also can easily find out whether his case is coming up for hearing or not, without bothering the advocates. Once the system is perfected and reliance is established the Registry of the court may consider reducing the generation of copies of cause lists, as most of the advocates will be dependent on the Interned version of cause lists. It will save good amount of money and valuable time for everyone connected with the court management.

When daily orders are made available on Internet, litigant can have access to the signed orders from their own place. It will enhances confidence in the judicial process and save a lot of time and expenses on traveling to the court to obtain a copy of the order. The Government of India is actively considering to provide computer hardware to all the courts in India with back up facility equipped with terminals and printers. In the process all court rooms will be connected on LAN( Local Area Networking). In the mean time, in some High Courts' judgments and orders are available on Internet. In most of the High Courts generation of cause lists and positing of cases to various courts is done by the computer system without human intervention. Bunching or grouping of cases is easily done by the computer. Court fee and time limitations are calculated automatically. In some of the High Courts the computer also generates usual notices. In computer based filing counters filing receipts are generated for reference of advocates. Query counters are connected either on Internet or NICNET. Most of the High Courts ever have FTDMA/IPMV-sat – based Internet connectivity.

The impact of the computerization process and Information Technology in court management has streamlined and modernized Registries' day-to-day work.

The process of computerization has started in the subordinate courts in India. Some of the District Courts are now able to generate cause list, store judgments on computers, generate notices automatically, generate certified copies, monitor case flow, post cases in a transparent way, assist in caveat matching, access e- mail and internet and help litigants get case status information from query counters.

In the Districts courts, computerization has provided transparency of information to the litigants and advocates. It has helped the court administration in streamlining the activities of its office. Computers have provided judicial and legal databases to the Districts Judges, which are accessible on the touch of a button of the computer.

All this is not a small achievement in a country like ours. Recently Ministry of Law and Justice Vide its letter No.2933/JSJS/2003 dated 15th December,2003 informed the Registry that the Central Government is preparing a scheme to computerize, within next three months, all city courts in the state capitals or the place where the High Court is situated on 100% granted basis. If this scheme succeeds hopefully all the judicial courts in Guwahati city will be computerized within next three months.

Internet, which is said to be the treasure house of worldwide web is capable of giving any information that is available under the sun. There are websites meant for judges and advocates. Virtual law libraries are available on the internet. 'Find law' is one of the best sites. All the judgments of US Supreme Court, past and present are available in the internet free of charge. In India also such websites are on the way. There are web sites like Lexis Nexis, legal 2000(www.orbitinfo). Com); Westlaw. www.lawsearch.com; wwwLawyers. Com;www.briefxchg.com;www.seamlers.com; wwwlawinc.com;www.nic.in/lawmin. www.mylawfirm. Com;www.legalfiction.com,which are very popular and useful for probing legal solutions.

Information Technology revolution is definitely catching up every corner of the globe. The software market is agog with legal data bases like SCC online, JUDIS, Judgments Today,Grand Jurix,Gujarat case laws, Gujarat Code, India Code, Some Important Acts. IT Act. Companies Act, Electronic Dictionary, Electronic Encyclopedias etc. Text of judgments and head notes of the decision of the Supreme Courts easy search facilities are available for fast and easy retrieval of the required law points. We can visualize bookless electronic law library and paperless office in near future.

We can hope and trust that Information Technology, which is said to be the future of human civilization, will surely find a solution to get rid of the scourge of laws delay.