E-Court helps in delivering justice during COVID pandemic: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju

New Delhi [India], December 9 : Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday hailed India's new "e-court" project and said that this helped the courts to deliver justice in virtual mode during the COVID pandemic.
During the virtual ninth meeting of ministers of justice of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Rijiju said that the e-Courts Project, conceptualized as a Mission Mode Project of the Government of India, as a part of the National e-Governance Plan based on the "National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology in the Indian Judiciary", established after long-standing efforts on the parts of our government during the difficult times of Covid 19 pandemic and helped the courts to perform all the task of Justice Delivery in virtual mode, according to the press statement released by Ministry of Law and Justice.
The project is under implemented since 2007 under the joint partnership of the Department of Justice, the Ministry of Law and Justice, the government of India, and the e-Committee of the Supreme Court of India.
While addressing the meeting, Rijiju emphasized that this Session was of special significance as SCO had completed 21 years of its creation since 15 June 2001 and India was also celebrating "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" an initiative of the Government of India to commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of its people, culture, and achievements. It is commensurate with the spirit of SCO, as it had been established with the aim of strengthening mutual trust and respect among the Member States.
SCO pursues its internal policy based on the principles of mutual trust and benefit, equal rights, consultations, respect for the diversity of cultures, and aspiration towards common development, he added.
He also highlighted the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism, which offers a faster, more transparent, and accessible option to the citizens of the country. In fact, they were one of the major factors to achieve "Ease of Doing Business" by improving dispute resolution with regard to contract enforcement among national or global stakeholders, the statement reads.
Another very important ADR mechanism is Mediation. Mediation is a voluntary dispute-resolution process. To have a consolidated law on mediation, the Government of India has introduced the Mediation Bill, 2021 in Parliament. He apprised the gathering of the high priority, the Government has accorded to resolving disputes through ADR; framing business facilitating laws and rules, including Commercial Courts Act and Arbitration Laws with a view to make India a preferred destination for investment and businesses, the statement added.
Also, in this emerging era of digitization and new possibilities, Union Minister called upon all the SCO partners to commit to promoting technology in all fields and adopting and developing new mechanisms like ADRs in the Legal System of all the SCO Member States.
Earlier, the Experts Working Group discussed issues related to the provision of legal services to individuals and/or legal entities and stressed the need for the development of information technologies in the provision of services, according to the statement.
The next Meeting of the Ministers of Justice of the SCO Member States will be held in 2023 in the People's Republic of China.