Tuesday, March 27, 2012

E-Courts Consultants In India


E-courts in India are still a distant dream. Till now not even a single e-court has been established in any state of India. Lack of techno-legal expertise is the main reason for the current scenario. Further, governmental and judicial resolve to establish e-courts in India is also missing.

As far as techno legal expertise is concerned, we have a single techno legal e-courts training and consultancy centre of India managed by Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB). Similarly, we have very few e-courts consultants in India that can successfully implement any e-court project in India or abroad.

Fortunately the e-justice and dispute resolution in India has been strengthened by Perry4Law and PTLB. It has been reported that Perry4Law and PTLB have launched dedicated portals pertaining to electronic courts, e-judiciary, ODR India, online arbitration, etc.

From a mere perusal of these initiatives it is clear that these initiatives are covering crucial issues like online dispute resolution (ODR), e-courts, e-judiciary, online arbitration, etc.

So far neither Indian government nor Indian judiciary has taken any concrete steps towards use of ODR and e-courts in India. While other countries are exploring active use of e-courts and ODR India on the other hand is still engrossed in purchase of computers and printers.

Till now there is no facility of e-filing in India at the lower courts. Litigants are still required to be physically present at court premises to submit their digital media and electronic documents.

Indian government has taken almost a decade to decide whether e-courts would be used in India or not? It is high time for Indian government to actually act rather than keep on thinking for another decade.

Indian government can also take help of techno legal consultants who are well aware of the details of both technical and legal aspects. Of course, the option of approaching Perry4Law and PTLB is the best one if the Indian government wants best and instant results.

Monday, March 12, 2012

TRAI Accepted Suggestions Of Perry4Law On Telecom Policy Of India

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recently suggested the National Telecom Policy 2012 of India. It has suggested many important reforms and changes that if implemented would make the telecom sector safe and secure.

It seems TRAI has considered a wide range of techno legal reforms while suggesting the proposed 2012 policy. Many of the reforms suggested by TRAI are reiteration of the recommendations given by Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB). Nevertheless they are good suggestions that must be implemented by the department of telecommunication (DoT), India.

Some of the suggestions of Perry4Law and PTLB that have been accepted by TRAI pertain to issues like:

(a) Establishing servers in India,

(b) Establishing cloud computing legal framework in India,

(c) Establishment of telecom security in India,

(d) Reconciling privacy rights and law enforcement requirements,

(e) Reconciling privacy rights and national security requirements,

(f) Adoption of lawful interception methods,

(g) Telecom dispute resolution reforms in India,

(h) Crisis management and emergency response services,

(i) Delivery of e-services in a time bound manner,

(j) Digitisation of governmental records,

(k) Establishing cloud computing best practices in India,

(l) Encryption and privacy issues of cloud computing,

(m) Establishing a centralised monitoring system in India, etc.

Clearly, the telecom policy 2012 is moving towards consumer and end user empowerment. The ball is now in the court of DoT and Indian government and let us see how they would react to the suggestions of Perry4Law and TRAI.