J&K: HC judge virtually presides over court proceedings from Gurez

Srinagar, Sep 23 (PTI) In a first, Justice Sanjeev Kumar, the seniormost judge of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, virtually presided over the proceedings of a division bench from Gurez on Tuesday, marking a new chapter in the technologically-enabled justice-delivery system where geographical barriers no longer hinder access to courts.

Justice Kumar is on an official trip as the executive chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Legal Services Authority regarding the child-friendly scheme of the NALSA, 2024.

He heard all the listed cases from the Munsiff Court in Gurez virtually, an official spokesperson said.

The historic bench comprised Justices Kumar and Sanjay Parihar. While the former joined from Gurez, the latter was in the Jammu wing of the high court.

The lawyers also attended their cases from the Jammu and Srinagar wings of the court through video-conferencing.

Forty-five cases from the Jammu wing and five from the Srinagar wing were heard, exhausting the entire cause list for the day, the spokesperson said.

Justice Kumar directed the central project coordinator of the high court's e-court, Fayaz Ahmad Qureshi, to ensure a seamless service of e-filings, the display of timely case information and a real-time display of the cause list for the information of all the litigants to prevent any deprivation of such facilities.

For the immediate installation of a kiosk in the Gurez Munsiff Court, a direction was passed by the judges to provide various e-courts services to the people of Gurez.

Justice Kumar, who is also the chairman of the high court's Information Technology Committee, exhorted upon improvising the existing IT infrastructure to ensure leverage between the physical and digital platforms for the ease of court business and enhancing digital access to physical platforms. PTI MIJ RC