‘Staying connected on virtual mode has become indispensable part of justice delivery system’

Kolkata: Staying connected on virtual mode has become an indispensable part of the justice delivery system nowadays, Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court TS Sivagnanam said while virtually inaugurating the free wifi facility for advocates in all the bar rooms of Andaman Association at Port Blair.

There are four bar rooms and all will be connected with a free wifi facility which will have a speed of around 200 mbps. The Chief Justice disclosed that the addition of such a facility is not a one-time investment but a recurring expenditure which will cost around Rs 70,000 annually apart from the maintenance issues which may occur over a period of time.

There are around 200 members of the bar association there. “This facility will be a boon for the members of the Bar,” Chief Justice Sivagnanam said. The bar members had been asking for wifi connectivity for a long time.

Apart from this, an additional video conferencing (VC) room will be established, which according to the Chief Justice will be ready in a couple of weeks. “There will be VC cabins, which can be utilised by the advocates to argue their cases,” he said.

With regards to the live streaming of proceedings, the Chief Justice said that the Calcutta High Court is one of the HCs in the country where invariably all the courtroom proceedings are live streamed. This facility has also been successfully implemented in the circuit bench.

Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya said: “Wifi facility is not an aspiration or a luxury any more but an essential and indispensable to the dissemination of justice. It’s a

justice facilitator.”