India is one of the most populated countries and the implementation of advanced information and communication technology has become essential across all sectors, and Indian Judiciary is not an exemption. India’s Apex Court constituted an e-Committee, which introduced the e-Courts Mission Mode Project as part of the National e-Governance Plan to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the Indian judicial system. At the same time, the Indian judiciary has a segment of litigation called Public Interest Litigation (PIL) or Social Action Litigation (SAL), which emerged as a product of judicial activism. PIL/SAL paved way for the introduction of the 2020 Videoconferencing Rules, which resulted in a significant rise in court hearings conducted through videoconferencing (VC). Despite the innovative nature of these developments implemented under the directions of the higher judiciary during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been largely overlooked and remain insufficiently analyzed by legal scholars. This research paper addresses that gap by offering a picture of how the higher judiciary of India responded to an unforeseen situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic and proactively adopted emerging technologies to ensure a citizen-centric justice delivery system, and build accountability and inclusive and effective institutions at all levels, with access to justice for all. It also offers insights into the role and characteristics of the Indian judiciary in the sphere of SAL during unforeseen crises that may arise in the future.
Krishnan et al. (Thu,) studied this question.