HC forms committee to ‘audit’ internet facilities for courts

HC forms committee to ‘audit’ internet facilities for courts

Srinagar: Srinagar: The J&K High Court on Friday constituted a committee to undertake an audit of the internet facilities which are required for e-connectivity of courts.
Pursuant to a court order passed on 14 July to explain the impact of internet restrictions on the functioning of courts, Shaleen Kabra, Home Secretary, J&K Government, was present before court through video-conferencing.
The official submitted that the difficulties in e-connectivity are leaseline issues, needs of enhancement of lease line bandwidth, optimal utilisation of the softwares, distribution of bandwidth amongst different users.
He also reasoned that poor e-connectivity is possible because of the misuse of the available bandwidth.
He also suggested that an audit needs to be first undertaken of the facilities which are in existence and which are required to be urgently added.
The court of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Sanjay Dhar after hearing the submissions constituted a committee to examine the connectivity issues.
“We accordingly constitute a Committee consisting of the following to examine the above issues and make their recommendations: Shaleen Kabra, Home Secretary, Govt of UT of Jammu and Kashmir (Chairperson), Shahzad Azeem, Registrar (IT), J&K High Court, Abhay Kumar, SIO, NIC, J&K, Sanjeev Tyagi, Nodal Officer, BSNL, J&K and Director, National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), Jammu or an expert to be nominated by him from NIELIT.
“The Committee shall undertake a proper audit of the facilities before making their report,” the court said.
The court also directed that the meetings of the committee may be held on video conference.
“All information as may be needed for effective assessment by the members of the Committee shall be made available by Shabir Malik, CPC, J&K High Court and Umesh Sharma, Civil Judge (Senior Division), Leave Reserve, High Court of J&K,” court directed.
“The reports of the Committee shall at the first instance be placed before the Chairperson of IT Committee of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir for his consideration. Shahzad Azeem, Registrar (IT) shall place the observations of the Chairperson, IT Committee along with the final report before this Court on the next date of hearing,” the court said.
The court also noted that the members of the Committee shall remain present in court through video conferencing on the next date as well.
In a previous hearing the court had held that “Access to justice is a fundamental right and cannot be impeded,” while directing Home Secretary Shaleen Kabra to appear before court to explain the impact of internet restrictions on the functioning of courts.
Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Sanjay Dhar had recorded their concern towards the urgent issues involving rights of the residents of the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh

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