'Video Arguments' demonstrated before All India CAs Conference on 22.02.09 at Indore

We are pleased to  inform that Mr. Ram Kishan delivered a talk on 22nd Feb. '09 in Dhirubhai Ambani Auditorium during the 'All India Conference of CAs' at Indore on the topic of 'Video Arguments in Judicial Proceedings' The talk was based on PowerPoint presentation and was video recorded. It was very much appreciated by the large gathering of CAs. The DVD containing the said video of the talk will be available shortly. The background paper of the talk is given below. It was published in the souvenir specifically brought out on this occasion

Video Arguments in Judicial Proceedings

(Proposed Method - First Time in India & Presented Before District Court, Indore on 10^th Oct. ’07)

A practical method to improve Justice Delivery System and

to reduce time, cost and pendency in Indian Courts

Ram Kishan*

M – 9691103689

www.drtsolutions.com

Introduction 

There is heavy pendency of more than 3 crore cases in Indian Courts. There is also huge scarcity of judges. Hence the existing judges are heavily overloaded. This is not only severely affecting the quality of the cases in hand, the work also gets multiplied due to poor quality at the level of initial courts. Accordingly the trial court as well as the higher courts get avoidable work load by way of review, change in court, revision, appeal etc. Thus the higher courts also get heavily overloaded. Further the growing complexity In human activities are bringing more complicated disputes and controversies to the judiciary. In judiciary there is no accountability and no concern for cost of time delays. As a whole the situation is highly unsatisfactory.

Simply increasing the number of judges will not correct the situation. There is immediate need of employing modern management techniques and use of technology by the advocates and the judges. A crude analogy is with the bullock cart age which was completely altered after the introduction of new technology of automotive vehicles like trucks. In fact the Indian Judiciary did not keep pace with the time. The same British system of court which was adopted by the Indians was also adopted by the Americans. The computerization in American Judiciary commenced way back in 1970 whereas we have just started. The Information and Technology Act was enacted in 2000. The Indian Evidence Act 1872 was also amended in 2002 by which the CDs were regarded as documents.  On 9^th July 2007, laptops were distributed to all the 15,000 Judges in the country with the provision of 3 months training. Even after one and half year, we don’t find the trial court judges using the said laptops. If the advocates start using laptops in the court rooms, the Judges will be compelled to use their laptops.   

The Author of this article has developed a most practical method for Presentation and Video Arguments which will result in distinct improvement in quality, reduction in cost and time as well as reduction in pendency in the existing Justice Delivery System. This article highlights all the aspects of the said method. In nutshell, for the most important activity of arguments, it is proposed to employ pre-recorded Computer Presentation say using PowerPoint by the arguing Advocate on his laptop computer connected with a monitor placed before the Judge. The said presentation is termed as  ‘Video Arguments’ and is submitted in form of a CD as a document in lieu or in addition to the Written Arguments. This will result in a great facility to the Judges as the entire Presentation and the Argument can be most accurately recalled and replayed at any time before or at the time of writing of the judgment and can be played backward, forward and paused at will. The judgments will be most accurate and hence will result in lesser appeals, revisions or reviews as the case may be. The time and cost will also reduce. As a whole the pendency will come down drastically and that too with greater satisfaction to the litigants.

The above method can be used in other courts like Tribunals, High Courts and Supreme Court.

The Video Technology is poised to spread in other areas like recording important meetings in-house as well as with with the Govt officials in Sales Tax, Income Tax, Excise, Police, Jail etc. which will eradicate the injustice at the root due to the dominant conduct and corruption oriented behavior of the said officials. Consequently the litigation in courts will greatly come down as at present 70% of the litigation is due to such government officials.

Present Method of Arguments

(1) At present the Advocates tender their Oral Arguments before the Judges. For these arguments, their preparations are based on the documents, copy of citations, books containing the citations, knowledge and experience of the Advocates. Some of the Advocates prepare their arguments by keeping a note of points in brief, which they elaborate during the arguments. They have to carry the files, law books and citations for reading out or making reference. The said papers are flagged but it takes time to search and open before the Court. Sometimes the Judge also refers to his books and papers or demands copies from the advocate.

(2)   The judge listens to these arguments and wherever needed, he makes a note in writing. The information orally delivered by the advocates is stored in the mind of the judge and in his notes.  He recalls the said information whenever he dictates or writes the judgment or order on the said arguments. Some of the Advocates after completion of the oral arguments, may submit written arguments which may be quite helpful to the Judge.

(3)   Many arguments may be quite lengthy. Some may involve complex matters of the present society. In such cases, humanly it may not be possible for the judge to remember and recall complete arguments accurately. Sometimes due to time gap, the recall may not be accurate. The retention is between 30% to 70%. All these may have effect on the quality of the judgments. Thus the justice delivery system may suffer. Some of the affected litigants may be compelled to resort to review, change in court or revision or appeal as the case may be, for no fault of theirs. As a result, the higher courts will be further burdened. Under such facts and circumstances, the litigation may involve avoidable time, costs, delays and pendency.

(4)   Sometimes after completion of the arguments and before writing of the judgments, the judge may be transferred. Then the whole process of arguments may be required to be repeated, thus involving additional time and costs for the litigants for which he is not responsible.

(5)     Sometimes, the Judge or the Advocates may not have sufficient time to listen to the complete arguments and the matter remains part heard. There may be time gap in completing the part hearings. As a result the Justice Delivery System suffers for no fault of the litigants.

(6)   Sometimes the hearing may not take place on the appointed date due to sudden developments and despite all preparations, the arguments may not be held.

Proposed Method of Arguments

(6) The Advocate will prepare his arguments on modern system of presentation like PowerPoint Presentation in which various points of arguments will be contained in slides with narration. These points will have links to extracts from legal books, citations and documents which will also be displayed on screen when needed. All the slides will be in form of a video with elapsed time shown by a digital clock which serves as reference for the index. This is termed as 'Video Arguments' and is legally permissible under ' The Information Technology Act, 2000', 'The Indian Evidence Act, 1872' and 'The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908' The said 'Video Arguments' is recorded in a CD with a label giving the details of the case, parties etc. The said CD as a document is just like a 'Written Arguments'  A CD costing Rs. 8 can contain information of nearly 1 lac pages and occupies very small space. Thus the proposed data storage is not only considerably cheaper than the present system but so easy to carry and store in court records. The search and recall of the information is quite easy.

(7)   The arguing Advocate will carry the said CDs and his laptop to the Court Room. He will also have a monitor (for the Judge) which may be connected to his laptop. He will play the CD, may pause and explain if needed. In actual case, two copes of the said CD will be given to the Court, one for the Court and another for the opposite party. If the Judge does not have time to view and listen to whole arguments, he may view the CD at the time of writing the judgment. The biggest advantage is 100% record and 100% recall of the arguments with facility of pause, forward, backward and replay whenever required during writing of the judgment.

(7)     The judge will now have the facility of playing the said CD backward, forward, pause etc. and the entire argument will be available to him in most accurate form capable of being recalled fully at any time before writing of the judgment. The Judge need not remember or take down notes of the complex matters and can replay whenever he desires. Thus the recall of entire argument will be most accurate and precise which is not at all possible in the existing system. Therefore the judgment writing will be easier and perfect. On account of accurate judgments, there will be lesser reviews, revisions and appeals and thus pendency will come down. The complications due to part heard arguments spread over time, transfer of the judge before completion of the arguments and in the event of long gap between hearing of the arguments and writing of the judgments will be obviated.

(8)     The proposed ‘Video Arguments’ can be prepared and submitted in Courts, DRTs, other Tribunals like Administrative, Income Tax etc., High Courts and Supreme Court. The person who desires to prepare such ‘Video Arguments’ should have good practical knowledge of computer hardware, software, video, editing, recording, CD burning apart from mastery of facts and law on the relevant matter on which the said ‘Video Arguments’ are to be prepared.

(9)     In prehistoric days, the arguments were only oral. Subsequently written arguments were being submitted. The proposed ‘Video Arguments’ is a step ahead, improvement and revolution in Court Management and Technology to reduce time and cost and to improve quality of Justice Delivery System.

(9)    We have demonstrated the proposed system to several retired judges and senior advocates who all have appreciated the same and desired that it should be implemented as early as possible.

(10)  We have prepared a DVD having the ‘Video Arguments’ proposed for an actual case. Further we have another DVD which contain video interviews of retired judges, senior advocates and other experts. Those who desire to obtain these DVDs may contact us at M – 9691103689 or e-mail at our Id  ramkishan@drtsolutions.com or ramkishandrt@gmail.com

Presented before an Indian Court for the first time in the Country on 10^th October 2007

(11) The proposed system has been presented before District Court, Indore on 10^th October 2007 when the said presentation was highly appreciated.

Presented before an All India Conference on 4^th May 2008

(12) The proposed system was explained and presented before the All India DRT Conference on 4th May '08 where borrowers, their advocates, chartered accounts etc. coming from all over the country were present. They all appreciated the said 'Video Arguments' The complete video record of the said presentation in the conference is available in DVD No D-013.

First Assignment of ‘Video Arguments’ completed and delivered on 18.09.08 to one of our Mumbai clients

(13) The first commercial assignment of the 'Video Arguments' has been completed and handed over on 18.09.08 to one of our Mumbai clients.

Legal Validation

(14)  As per procedural law contained in CPC, written arguments are permissible after the oral arguments. The proposed ‘Video Arguments’ are akin to written arguments and are permissible under the law being in accordance with Sec. 4 of ‘The Information Technology Act, 2000 reproduced below:-

“ 4. Legal recognition of electronic records :- Where any law provides that information on any other matter shall be in writing or in the typewritten or printed form, then, notwithstanding anything contained in such law , such requirement shall be deemed to have been satisfied if such information or matter is -

(a)    rendered or made available in an electronic form: and

(b)   accessible so as to be usable for a subsequent reference.

COMMENTS

If any information or matter is rendered or made available in an electronic form, and accessible so as to be usable for a subsequent reference, shall be deemed to have satisfied the requirement of the law which provides that information or any other matter shall be in writing or in the typewritten form.”

Application of Video Technology in Other Areas

In respect of flow and record of information, we are poised to move successively from oral to written and written to video. The various applications are as under:-

(a) Recording of court proceedings. In USA and UK, the complete court proceedings are video recorded and are available on internet on the same day in video as well as transcribed form.

(b) Recording of minutes of meetings. In developed countries, all the important meetings are video recorded and converted to CDs for future record and reference.

(c) The time is not far when the above will also be introduced in our country. When it is done, the meetings particularly Govt. officials like Income Tax, Sales Tax, Excise, Customs, Police as well as other departments will be more meaningful and grass root corruption will be completely eliminated. The government oriented litigation (which at present is nearly 70%) will also come down greatly reducing burden and pendency in courts.

(d) The Indian Courts and Govt. departments are and will resist the video recording but when the parliament proceedings are getting video recorded with live transmission, why it can not be done with the courts and govt. departments.

(e) In that eventuality, that will usher in real democracy for which numerous patriots and freedom fighters have laid their life.

Conclusion

(16) The above proposed method is already in use in developed countries past several years. India has achieved a leadership role in Information Technology. Time has come to use the said technology in Indian Court Rooms. The Supreme Court of India and the High Courts have already started moving in this direction. The 15,000 Judges in the District Courts have been provided with laptops on 9^th July ’07. We have been working on the above mentioned method past several months and are now ready after close examination, appreciation and recommendation by several Judges and Senior Advocates.

(17) Recognition and spread by the reader of this article will expedite the implementation in Indian Court Rooms resulting into distinct improvement in quality of justice delivery system, reduction in cost and time with facility to Judges and Advocates, which invariably happens by use of better technology. We shall be glad to have a feedback at M – 9691103689 or on e-mail IDs mentioned above.

(18) We request the litigants to involve themselves with proceedings on all dates, get the DVD from us in advance, show the same to his advocates so that if any change is to done by us. Finally prepare 7 days in advance with their advocates so that the he is fully prepared with the arguments based on our DVD.

Citations

As per Art. 141 of the Constitution of India, the law laid down by the Supreme Court of India is binding on all Courts in India. We are motivated and encouraged by the following citations which may be used in reviewing all orders and judgments which, if necessary, may be corrected before the case moves further. This way higher courts will not be unnecessarily burdened with defective proceedings from the Courts below:-

 (21)    1993 Supp (4) Supreme Court Cases 595 S. Nagraj vs State of Karnataka The Supreme Court in this famous judgment on the matter of review has pronounced in para 18 vide extract:-       

Para 18

“Justice is a virtue which transcends all barriers. Neither the rules of procedure nor technicalities of law can stand in its way… Even the law bends before justice….If the Court finds that the order was passed under a mistake and it would not have exercised the jurisdiction but for the erroneous assumption which in fact did not exist and its perpetration shall result in miscarriage of justice then it can not on any principle be precluded from rectifying the error. Mistake is accepted as valid reason to recall an order… But the root from which the power flows is the anxiety to avoid injustice …. If the Court is satisfied of the injustice then it is its constitutional and legal obligation to set it right by recalling its order… .

 Para 19

Review literally and even judicially means reexamination or re-consideration. Basic philosophy inherent in it is the universal acceptance of human fallibility. Rectification of an order thus stems from the fundamental principle that justice is above all It is exercised to remove the error…”

(22)    AIR 1969 SC 1167 Swaran Lata Ghosh vs H.K. Banerjee & Anr The Supreme Court in this famous judgment on the process of conducting trials has pronounced vide extracts:-

Page 1169 - Trial  of a civil dispute in Court is intended to  achieve, according to law and the procedure of the Court, a  judicial determination  between the contesting parties of the  matter in  controversy.  Opportunity to the parties  interested  in the  dispute to present their respective cases on  questions of  law as well as fact, ascertainment of facts by means  of evidence  tendered  by the parties, and adjudication  by  a reasoned judgment of the dispute upon a finding on the facts in  controversy and  application of the law  to  the  facts found, are essential attributes of a judicial trial.  In  a judicial  trial the Judge not only must reach  a  conclusion which  he regards as just, but, unless otherwise  permitted, by  the practice of the Court or by law, he must record the ultimate  mental  process leading from the  dispute  to  its solution. A judicial determination of  a  disputed  claim where  substantial  questions  of  law or  fact  arise is satisfactorily reached, only if it be supported by the most cogent reasons that suggest themselves to the Judge : a mere order deciding the matter in dispute not supported  by reasons is no judgment at all. Recording of reasons in support of a decision of a  disputed claim serves more purposes  than one. It is intended to ensure  that the decision  is  not  the result of whim or  fancy,  but  of  a judicial  approach  to the matter in contest :it is also intended  to ensure adjudication of the matter according to law and the procedure established by law.  A party to the dispute is ordinarily entitled to know the grounds on which the Court has decided against him, and more so, when the judgment is subject to appeal. The Appellate Court, will then  have  adequate  material on  which  it  may  determine whether the facts are properly ascertained, the law has been correctly applied and the resultant decision is just.

* Mr. Ram Kishan, BE (Hons), Telecom Engg., 66 years, is an Indore based Consultant having rich experience in Management, Industries and Law. He can be contacted at his mobile no. M – 9691103689 or e-mail IDs given at the top of this web site. A video demo CD  is available to illustrate all the aspects of the proposed method. The said CD may be obtained by specific request through phone or e-mail.

Application of IT in Judicial Management

Information Technology is a tool, not an end unto itself.  Information Technology clearly can improve justice system and court performance through instant, integrated, and linked information.

Correct judicial decisions require timely, complete, and accurate information.  When Information Technology delivers on its promise, the right people are more likely than not able to get the information they need, at the right time, and in the right format.  Because of its potential both to improve and to entangle the judiciary, court leaders must take responsibility for the use of technology in their courts.  Direction, policy decisions, and management oversight of Information Technology cannot be left solely to technical staff.  Court leaders must ensure that technology serves the courts purposes and that it is managed effectively.

Much is at stake.  With a click of their mouse, users can move with ease through data and information that formerly was dispersed in fragmented and often poorly designed electronic systems, libraries, and paper records.  This improves justice, increases efficiency, and empowers end users and increases their morale.  But new technology alone will not improve inefficient work processes. The new electronic system must be well designed.  The information delivered to end users must be accurate.  The end users must know both what they are trying to do and how to do it.  When Information Technology is applied skillfully, communication and decisions, both judicial and managerial, can be improved.

Through technology, judges can bring together relevant case histories and documents, communicate with attorneys and social service staff, whether internal or external to the court, and take and maintain control of their calendars.  Cases and information about them can be accessed any time, from the bench, in chambers, in administrative offices, on the road, and at home.

Information Technology can enable improved case management through court-prompted and supervised timely lawyer exchange of reliable information.  As a result, the same or better justice is achieved, sooner for many cases.  Judicial attention then can be focused on the remaining cases as they are managed to closure later in the judicial process. Good Information Technology supports case management, service delivery, and management reports in any size court.  It is essential in large jurisdictions.

A century ago, when society was less mobile, when most business was conducted locally, when judges could remember all of their cases, and when everyone knew their neighbors, paper files supplemented later by crude computerization were adequate.  Even today, paper remains the medium of choice for many courts and court users.  Today, however, more and more people routinely communicate electronically.  Today, records of civil judgments and satisfactions are used nationally and internationally.  Today, police officers and prosecutors, pretrial and probation staff, and judges on the opposite coast need to know “right now” about criminal histories and the existence and status of warrants and protection orders.  No matter what their size, advanced electronic systems can help courts organize and manage the documents that are filed and the hearings that are held each day.

Judges who know about a defendant’s prior convictions and other matters pending and disposed in their own and other jurisdictions can make better bail decisions and impose more appropriate sentences.  Drug courts and others closely monitoring defendants and probationers can learn instantly about re-arrests through “subscription/notification” functions. Technology aids the court in recording legal status and in making judicial decisions and their consequences more reliable and transparent in traffic, criminal, civil, and domestic relations cases.

With accurate real-time financial reports, courts also are better able to meet their fiduciary responsibilities.  Information Technology enables better use of court resources, including judges, staff, equipment, and courtrooms.  The system can be more accountable.  But these and other equally significant benefits are not guaranteed. Skill is needed in the design of Information Technology and its day-to-day management, maintenance, and upgrade.

System design; expectations of efficient and instant service; significant changes in people’s mobility and the social, political, and economic environment; and caseload volume and complexity challenge all courts.  As courts deploy technology to meet these challenges, other issues arise:

·         Technology changes rapidly while technology design and implementation can take time.  Resulting applications can be dated almost as soon as they are implemented.

·         Technology often is overlaid incrementally on complex and archaic procedures and processes.

·         It is difficult and sometimes impractical to mirror the full complexity of justice system and court processes in information systems.

·         Although the same rules and procedures may govern courts within a state, the size of the court, the nature of the facility and local legal culture, among other factors, drive differences in specialization and the division of labor among staff.  One-size-fits-all solutions do not work.

·         Many key components of information management systems, people, processes, data, and facilities are already in place.  New hardware and software often are introduced without adequate attention to how they fit within this existing environment.  Almost always, re-engineering of justice system and court business processes and training are needed.

Managing technology requires some degree of technical competence.  A court leader must be comfortable with and have some proficiency with Information Technology, because it is impossible to manage that which one does not adequately understand.

Court leaders need to keep pace with technologies such as:  digital audio and video recording, video teleconferencing, voice recognition, the Internet, laptops, imaging, electronic mail and calendars, electronic evidence presentation, and high-tech security in the courtroom enables open, smooth, and timely information flow.  Technology can improve the speed, consistency, and fairness of decisions.  Improvement in a court’s management can be dramatic.

Court leaders who effectively manage Information Technology know both the limitations and the challenges it presents.  They also know that if its promise is realized, Information Technology can improve justice and court efficiency and increase public trust and confidence.