CJI opens virtual High Court in 10 districts in Odisha

Odisha

Cuttack, February 3: In a pioneering development to enhance access to High Court, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Friday inaugurated virtual High Court in 10 districts in Odisha on virtual mode.

Orissa High Court Chief Justice Dr S. Muralidhar, other judges of the High Court were present. The inaugural ceremony was organised at the Orissa High Court in Cuttack.

With this inauguration, Odisha became the first State in the country to have Virtual High Courts in 10 districts, out of total 30 districts.

The virtual High Courts were opened in the judgeships of Balasore, Berhampur at Ganjam, Bhadrak, Bhawanipatna at Kalahandi, Bhubaneswar at Khurda, Jeypore at Koraput, Rourkela at Sundargarh, Puri, Bolangir and Sambalpur.

The choice of the first 10 virtual High Courts was dictated by the geographical location and the volume of cases filed from the districts in the High Court.

The remaining 20 districts of the State are likely to get the facility by March this year.

These Virtual High Courts will have video conf facilities and a ‘Back Office’ by which lawyers can e-file their cases with assistance from staff/officer. Advocates or persons not familiar with computers can take help of the back office.

Meanwhile, for the smooth running of the virtual court, the High Court has issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the lawyers to utilise the facilities.

Further, it has also issued detailed guidelines for functioning of Virtual High Courts in districts along with several administrative guidelines to the District Judges with respect to functioning of such courts.

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