About 2.5 crore records of High Court digitised

KOLKATA: In a bid to e-preserve notes of cases, the Calcutta High Court has started the digitisation of data.

It is learnt that a massive trove of over 80 crore pages (containing hard copies of petitions/ judgements/ orders) stored at Calcutta High Court Centenary Building (record room), store room at Khidirpur area, Masjid Bari Godown (near the Calcutta High Court) and Sesqui Centenary Building, Calcutta High Court.

Due to COVID-19 the works had stopped. An outsourcing company has been hired. It is first scanning the pages and then sending it to the Calcutta High Court administrative section for approval. It is then being digitised and uploaded to the portal of the court.

According to sources, over 2. 5 crore have been digitised. Once done, the Calcutta High Court, established on July 1, 1862 under the High Courts Act, 1861, will have a secure digital vault of case records, readily accessible by court- authorised personnel or institutions for reference.

"The digitisation process is in progress. Digitisation of court records will not just be an environment-friendly process, but also a cost-effective mechanism for litigants and lawyers," said Syed Nafirul Islam, Advocate at Calcutta High Court.

Recently, the Supreme Court has also issued digitisation SOP to help dispose of cases quickly.

The latest step is in addition to the e-committee's direction last month to all high courts, asking them to make it compulsory for government departments to file their cases electronically.

The rule is set to kick in on 1 January 2022.

"The digitisation will help the common people obtaining documents from the site. It will be much easier for the common citizens to file the case through e-filing. The Tech savvy new generation will be benefited with the digitisation of the documents," said Advocate Wasim Ahmed, newly elected Assistant secretary of Calcutta High Court Bar Association.