Gujarat High Court to introduce online system to convey its orders to Police, SHO for swift implementation

The Gujarat High Court on Thursday said it would soon be introducing a new online system wherein orders passed by it would be immediately conveyed online to the police department and also to the concerned station house officer so that there isn't any delay on part of the police to implement the court orders [Upendrabhai Indulal Vyas vs SM Solanki]. .A bench of Chief Justice (CJ) Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh J Shastri explained that such a mechanism would be introduced within 10 days."There are over 1,000 police stations across the State, so that the moment an order is passed and it uploaded it would automatically go directly to the police websites of the police station. So it would be the responsibility of the station house officer to take out a printout and implement the said order. We will say that we will hold the SHO responsible so automatically it will pop up on their websites," the CJ explained. The Court made the observations after noting despite orders being passed by the court in a contempt of court plea, the police continued to file chargesheets in criminal offences. The particular case before the bench was a domestic violence matter wherein the High Court had passed orders staying the filing of charge-sheet. However, the police proceeded to file the chargesheet claiming that it received the order copy only after filing the chargesheet. The bench, however, said that it appeared prima facie that the police officers ignored court orders. .During an earlier hearing, the bench had suggested devising a new mechanism so that court orders could be immediately sent to the cops for better implementation. On Thursday, when the matter was called out, Senior Advocate Asim Pandya appeared before the judges furnishing some suggestions for enhancing the coordination between the judiciary and the police department. Chief Justice Kumar said, "A software has been developed by our IT cell and the same would be put to use probably within two three days.".Pandya explained that just like in cases of bail, wherein the orders passed by the court are immediately sent to jail superintendents, a similar mechanism should be introduced for The Chief Justice explained that such a mechanism would be introduced within 10 days..The bench further said that not only police websites but the SHO would be notified by the orders passed, even on their registered mobile numbers. "We are taking one step forward and this mechanism would be enforced within a week or 10 days," the bench informed. .Further, the Court said that another mechanism has already been introduced, which is for the lawyers. "Not many lawyers are aware of this new system called as Elect to Know My Case Status (EKMCS). One can register around 100 cases. Whether you ask or not, you don't come to court given your sick note, leave note, maternity leave etc You will get a message on your phone when your matter is listed and before which bench and to which date is it adjourned," the Chief Justice said..The bench further suggested amending High Court rules so that in every matter, the State and Central governments are served in advance. .During the course of the hearing, another advocate submitted some more suggestions especially with regard to the filing of charge-sheet. He said that the prosecutors must be given prior information by the investigating officer as to when he would file a chargesheet. To this, the bench responded, "How can we say that the IO should share information regarding filing of charge-sheet...that would be harsh. It is the prerogative of the IO and he can say he won't share information and in fact can go and submit the chargesheet to the Magistrate at 11:30 in the night. This won't be correct to order.".Lastly, the bench said that it would soon introduce a system even for the lower courts so that the moment an order is passed by the High Court, it pops up in the mail box of the lower court concerned. "Now the procedure takes around 10 days for our orders to reach the concerned lower court. Which would mean in a bail case, if there is no one in the family of the accused except his wife, who too might be pregnant or for some other reason won't be able to get a certified copy of our orders in time, then by the time the order reaches the lower court, the accused will be taken into custody. This should be stopped," the bench said. The bench said it would pass detailed orders in the case next week.