The Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur has taken a serious view of persistent technical problems affecting its newly updated website and e-hearing system, observing that the glitches had resulted in valuable judicial time being wasted.
The observations came in Aditya Soni v. State of Madhya Pradesh, a criminal appeal pending before the Court. The Division Bench comprised Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Avanindra Kumar Singh.
During the hearing, counsel for appellant Aditya Soni sought permission to withdraw his second application seeking suspension of sentence and bail, while retaining liberty to argue the matter finally. The Bench allowed the withdrawal and directed that the appeal be listed for final hearing according to its turn and seniority.
The proceedings then turned to problems with the High Court’s website and e-hearing facility.
The Bench noted that the website was not adequately supporting e-hearing and that several technical glitches were affecting its functioning.
"We take a very serious view that our judicial time has been wasted due to incompetency of the I.T. Staff."
The Court also noted that an earlier communication had indicated that the website would be updated within eight days, but more than 15 days had passed and the condition remained unsatisfactory.
Lawyers appearing before the Court also expressed concerns about the new website, stating that it was not functioning properly and that the earlier website had been better.
The Bench directed that a detailed enquiry be conducted into the problems, with reasons to be furnished by Registrar (IT-CSA) K.S. Kushwaha. It further directed that appropriate action be taken against the concerned staff and that the matter be reported to the Bench within seven days.
The Court additionally ordered an independent audit of the High Court’s IT system by experts from reputed technology companies such as TCS, Infosys or L&T Technology Services. The audit was directed to be completed within 30 days, with a report submitted to the Court. Officers from C-DOT and MASSCOM could also be included in the team.
The order recorded that the system was later checked in the presence of Mr. Kushwaha, during which the Bench found continued buffering and hanging issues.
The High Court dismissed the second application for suspension of sentence and bail as withdrawn, with liberty to argue the matter finally, and directed the appeal to be listed for final hearing according to its turn and seniority.
It also ordered the enquiry and independent IT audit within the specified timelines.
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