Justice DY Chandrachud e-inaugurates two virtual courts for ‘Traffic challans Captured via Cameras’

Supeme Court Judge and Chairman of e-Committee, Justice DY Chandrachud today inaugurated two virtual courts for ‘Traffic challans Captured via Cameras’ in Delhi..The inauguration ceremony, which was held virtually, was attended by Supreme Court judges, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjeev Khanna, Ravindra Bhat and Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, Justice DN Patel along with members of the Delhi High Court’s Information Technology Committee, Chairman Justice Rajiv Shakdhar and Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Prathiba M Singh and Navin Chawla..The first virtual court for payment of traffic challan was launched last year. .Virtual Court launched in Delhi for online payment of traffic challan.Calling the new virtual courts "version 2.0", Chief Justice DN Patel said that the new software/update allowed a party to point out discrepancies in the footage captured by the traffic camera before the Court. ."..immediately the court will come to a conclusion and still if anybody wants to go to the court, the option is still open.. better option is given to the person who has violated.", he explained. .Justice Patel said that at present, 389 traffic camera were installed in the city and as that number increases, more virtual courts would be introduced. ."It is an experiment that is going on", he said. .Justice Patel hoped that the initiative is helpful for the police as well as public. .In his inaugural address, Supreme Court Judge, Justice Chandrachud spoke on the adoption of technology by the judiciary. .The pandemic descended without any notice. It has given us an opportunity to place the technological infrastruture of the Indian judiciary on a robust basis. The question is not should we adopt technology. It is how can we adopt technology.Justice Chandrachud.He informed that after the physical access to courts was suspended due to COVID-19, as many as 17,000 courts across India were converted into virtual courts. .Justice Chandrachud informed that Model Rules for Conduction of Virtual Hearings had been circulated among the High Courts. .Key ingredient of the Rules is access to media and public. Right to know of public and media is crucial in a democracy.Justice Chandrachud.Justice Chandrachud further added that within 15 minutes of its inauguration, the virtual courts for traffic challan collected Rs. 95,000 as fines. .He explained that the system consisted of an e-challan software, payment gateway and a court software. .This virtual court has been able to liberate energies of 20 judicial officers, Justice Chandrachud remarked as he claimed that these officers can now devote their time to "core judicial work". He suggested that the model can be adopted for summary cases and disposal of cases under Section 138 NI Act..Justice Chandrachud took the opportunity to apprise the audience of some of the initiatives that are presently under consideration. .He informed that a pilot project was being run to link all the institutions of criminal justice system for seamless collection of data pertaining to a case. He added that e-sewa kendra to reach out to the citizens would also be launched. .During his speech, Justice Chandrachud also recognized the contribution of former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, Justice BD Ahmed and former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Lokur in adoption of technology. .Read the Release: