Urgent and undeniable need for digitization of court records: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Monday called for urgently putting in place a protocol for scanning and digitising the records and proceedings of the court [The Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd vs Suresh Ramchand Savlani & Ors.].s.A bench of Justices GS Patel and Gauri Godse stated the same after it came to the Court's notice that some of the crucial documents were not available with both the parties to the case. "Indeed the trajectory of this matter is arguably a good example or instance of the now urgent and undeniable need for a regular protocol being established for scanning and digitalization. The reason we say this is that neither side before us seems to have a complete set, including, most importantly, the financial documents that were used to establish the income of the injured and of the deceased. In this branch of the law that is a crucial component," the order said.The Court was hearing two appeals — by an insurance company against a Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal (MACT) award — that were restored after being dismissed for default. The insurer was unaware of the dismissal and sought restoration of the appeals only after the claimants moved an application for execution of the MACT's award.The Court said that since appeals are first appeals, they have to be heard on both facts and law and evidence will have to be re-appreciated.But since some of the key documents including finance documents were missing, the Court highlighted the necessity to have documents and records digitized. After one of the counsel said that he might have some documents, the Court permitted him to file an additional private paper book with a proper index.The Court also permitted the advocates to take copies of the records and proceedings but only once the registry scanned them."Before we allow either side to take copies of the records and proceedings (R&P), we request the Registry to scan the entire R&P. Then the Advocates on both sides may take soft or hard copies or both as they prefer," it said..[Read Order]