J&K Judicial Academy organises refresher programme on ‘digitisation’

Srinagar, Mar 8: J&K Judicial Academy Saturday organised a one-day refresher programme on ‘Digitisation’ for High Court Bench Secretaries, digitisation officials, Staff and Readers of Srinagar Wing at J&K Judicial Academy, Moominabad, Srinagar.

The programme was organized under the patronage of Justice Tashi Rabstan, The Chief Justice, High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh (Patron-in-Chief, J&K Judicial Academy), guidance of Chairperson, Governing Committee for J&K Judicial Academy and members of Governing Committee for J&K Judicial Academy.

The refresher programme was designed to impart practical knowledge and give hands-on experience on crucial digital tools and systems integral to judicial functioning.

The first technical session was headed by Fayaz Ahmed Qureshi (CPC) who gave an overview of eCourts functioning and various future upgrades that are in offing to make the system more feature-rich, robust and user-friendly.

He also said in his address that the biggest task right now is to unlearn how things were done in the past and how the new system can be implemented while minimizing the possible resistance from the stakeholders.

He also emphasised the importance of transitioning to paperless court systems which would immensely help the environmental cause as well.

Qureshi put before the audience the vision and the phases which the current eCourt system is transitioning to and where we are heading in the next four years.

He also briefly touched on the topics of digital divide, capacity building, etc. while answering the queries from the audience. Tajamul Hussain (developer) gave a practical demonstration and explained the concept of CIS 1.0.

He covered the various aspects of CIS 1.0, including Filing and Registration of Cases, Caveat and Document Filing, Case proceedings, and e-Court services. He also gave a hands-on demonstration of various concepts regarding issuing certified copies.

Senior System Officer Uzair Nazir delved into the Document Management System, covering its advantages and operational framework. He elaborated that as DMS forms the backbone of digital documentation, understanding its workflow is pivotal to streamlining case file management and promoting paperless courts.

The third session was jointly conducted by Fayaz Ahmed Qureshi (CPC), Wasim Hyder Khan (Senior Technical Officer), Uzair Nazir (Senior System Officer) and Tajamul Hussain (Developer). They focused on the practical application of the video conferencing platform, Zoom. They also focused on the fact that these tools have become indispensable in the judiciary, ensuring continuity of proceedings even amid logistical constraints.

The session was interactive and addressed challenges including the best practices for optimal usage.

Farhana Ali, Joint Registrar of J&K Judicial Academy conducted the proceedings for the daylong training programme and also presented the vote of thanks.

All the sessions remained very interactive during which all the participants actively participated and shared their experiences, and difficulties and also discussed various aspects of the subject topics. They also raised a number of queries which were answered satisfactorily by the resource persons.