Confirming doubts that the omission could only have been inadvertent, the new website of the Supreme Court of India has now included the Free Text Search Option under the Case Status section.

Bar & Bench had reported on June 2 about the omission of the Free Text Search option under the Case Status section of the new website.

The Free Text Search is an important tool of research to decipher and unravel the Supreme Court’s nearly 1000-plus daily orders produced by its various benches every day. It helps reporters, scholars and general public to understand and unravel the Court’s processes and in its various dimensions.

For example, two of the popular columns published by Bar & Bench every week – Judgments Reserved and Recusal Watch – rely heavily on the Free Text search to source information.

When the Supreme Court migrated to its new website, this mode of search did not find a place in the Case Status section. The new website had retained all other search options of the Case Status under the previous website, except Free Text Search Option.

This omission has now been corrected.

The new website of the Supreme Court of India was launched on May 10. It features the Integrated Case Management Information System which is expected to make filing of cases digital. The digital filing would be a big improvement over the existing e-filing. With digital filing, the litigant would be required to file just the grounds of appeal to the Supreme Court and the system will automatically retrieve other documents pertaining to the case from the concerned High Court.

This would effectively mean doing away with bulky paperbook, as large annexures, judgments etc. would now be retrieved electronically and the parties would not be required to file the same in hard copy in Supreme Court.

The website is expected to fully functional in the coming days.