Now, QR code will help litigants track their case records

NEWDELHI: Your smartphone can now help you know the status of your litigation.

The Supreme Court’s e-committee has started a unique initiative of assigning QR Code to every case.

This code will be allotted to a litigant or a lawyer so that he or she can access case details digitally with a smartphone. To enable the reading of the QR Code special software needs to be downloaded in the phone.

This move comes almost a month after the e-committee launched an on-line service to alert litigants about their upcoming cases, a step expected to bring transparency and efficiency in the lower judiciary. A mail is sent out the day the case is heard, informing the litigants about the day’s proceedings and the next date of hearing. The litigants also get a reminder mail a day before the hearing.

The service was started with the objective to give litigants first-hand information since on many occasions lawyers do not give their clients the correct picture of what happens in the court.

The QR Code facility would also help the litigants get an update their matter, without relying much on the lawyers.

“This is yet another step by the e-courts committee to digitise judicial proceedings. It was started ten days back and is as of now restricted to trial courts,” Supreme Court judge Justice MB Lokur , who heads the panel, told Hindustan Times.

According to him it’s the first of its kind in India. “Even government records are not accessible through a QR Code,” he said.

A QR Code is a two-dimensional barcode that is readable by smartphones. It allows to encode over 4000 characters in a two dimensional barcode. QR Codes are used to display text to the user, to open a URL, save contact to the address book or to compose text messages.

QR Code will be assigned to the case as soon as it gets registered with the court. All the old cases too have been given the Code. A litigant can know this Code number after logging on to the e-courts website where he or she will have to full up the CNR number of the case. This CNR number, which is similar to a PNR number of railway ticket, is given when a case is filed.

THIS CODE WILL BE ALLOTTED TO A LITIGANT OR A LAWYER SO THAT HE OR SHE CAN ACCESS CASE DETAILS DIGITALLY ON A SMARTPHONE