Cuttack:3/2/23: Virtual High Courts were inaugurated by Dr. Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, Chief Justice of India in 10 districts of Odisha on Friday.
The districts are Sambalpur, Ganjam at Berhampur, Bhadrak, Kalahandi at Bhawanipatna, Khordha at Bhubaneswar, Bolangir, Koraput at Jeypore, Puri and Sundargarh at Rourkela.
The inaugural function was held in Odisha Judicial Academy where Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice and the Judges of the High Court of Orissa were present.
Among others, the former Judges of the High Court, Advocates of the 10 districts, members of the High Court Bar Association, Advocate General of Odisha, Deputy Solicitor General of India for the High Court of Orissa, Judicial Officers and Government Officials attended the function. The Chief Justice of India inaugurated the Virtual High Courts through virtual mode from Delhi.
The CJI announced that a new initiative of translating its judgments into the regional languages with the use of AI tool has been adopted by the Supreme Court with the help of IIT, Madras and expressed hope that under the leadership of Dr. S. Muralidhar the High Court of Orissa would adopt translation of its judgments into Odia. The CJI also informed that the Supreme Court has launched e-Supreme Court Reports by which 35,000 judgments of the Supreme Court have been made available in the portal for use of the lawyers, Judges and litigants free of charge.Proposal for Virtual High Court in the Districts was placed before the Supreme Court of India on judicial side and was approved by the Supreme Court in order dated 14th December, 2022 in TP(C) No.2419 of 2019 M/s. PLR Projects Pvt. Ltd. Vrs. Mahanadi Coal Fields Ltd. and others.
Accordingly, the High Court of Orissa has now decided to take a step forward to establish dedicated Virtual High Courts in 10 of the 30 Districts in the first phase. These are at Sambalpur, Ganjam at Berhampur, Bhadrak, Kalahandi at Bhawanipatna, Khurda at Bhubaneswar, Bolangir, Koraput at Jeypore, Puri and Sundargarh at Rourkela. The choice of the first 10 virtual High Courts was dictated by the geographical location and the volume of cases filed from the Districts in the High Court.
The Virtual High Courts at Sambalpur, Bolangir, Sundergarh at Rourkela are in Western Odisha, Kalahandi at Bhawanipatna, Koraput at Jeypore and Ganjam at Berhampur in Southern Odisha, Balasore and Bhadrak in Northern Odisha, and Khurda at Bhubaneswar and Puri are in Eastern Odisha.