It’s been a year now that e-filing has been compulsorily introduced in Goa which is aimed at promoting ‘paperless filing’, ‘saving time’ and ‘cost’!… such an eco-friendly statement!
Now, when it comes to paperless filing – only the original set remains with you, but copies are served on the opposite parties … how does this save paper?
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Saving Time? – Not all have multifunctional printers and scanners – it’s really time consuming when it comes to scanning, converting, editing, book marking; and every time defects are raised, to time and again edit and reorganize the entire document which usually runs above 180 pages.
Cost? – We pay court fees, process fees, fees for service on opposite parties according to the weight of the document, and other fees online….. which costs are we saving, costs of frequenting the Court with our vehicles?
In reality, with the High Court staff who are still in the process of getting accustomed to this new procedure, it causes much more delay and gets worse when you personally approach them to clear your doubts; to which they reply,’atam saglem online ahe, tumala ite yevachi garaz nhai, objection tumchea offisant san clear karat’, (now everything is online, no need to come here, you can clear objections from your office itself) or ‘amakam bhi mahiti nai, Madam lagim vichara, technical problem ahe ter State Legal Services, Sitarama lagim vichara” (we also don’t know, ask Madam or if it is a technical problem ask Sitaram from State Legal Services), and on approaching Madam, she says, ‘there are so many cases pending, come later’. Uffff! Physical filing was much better – within a day objections would be cleared and the case registered. In the meanwhile, if you wish to withdraw an old application, you have to wait for months till the old matter comes on the Registrar’s Board. There is no option online.
Now, with this process of e-filing cases in the High Court, should not lawyers charge higher fees? Why must the Government interfere and set a bar to fees? With due respect, there are advocates who are senior to Senior Advocates and have contributed much more to the law even though they do not have the title and/or have been rejected the title.
There should be flexibility when it comes to High Court. Not every paper to be produced before the Judge needs to be uploaded. In Goa, as most civil cases relate to property matters, to speed up justice, like in the old, Judges need to visit the sites in person to witness the truth alongwith the officers concerned and pass judgements; cases would be disposed of immediately with such active participation of judges, instead of the litigant running from pillar to post proving their points. This also applies to Lower Courts.
We cannot waste time clearing defects for weeks together. It would really be time saving if physical filing was compulsorily reintroduced keeping e-filing optional for caveats and other miscellaneous applications and having a separate section altogether to manage the same.
