Islamabad:
The president of the Supreme Court, Yahya Afridi, went to a room full of associates of the Court at the beginning of the new judicial year, highlighting not only the areas that need improvements, but also the steps already taken by the Supreme Court, which are now formalizing.
There was emphasis on digitalization and how to use the technology available for the judicial system to be even more efficient. The agenda was how to make the judiciary more efficient and address the “functioning” of the courts and the “administrative side” of things.
The superior judge presented five pillars that would integrate technology into the daily processes of the courts. The first was “to improve the provision of services through technology, from less paper to paper without paper.”
He explained that the court in the last year slowly began to integrate steps, such as the presentation of digital cases, and that the case files can now be transferred online and also are completely traced. Electronic services have been implemented, such as electronic effidents and digital orders. The notices will now be distributed through WhatsApp and SMS.
One of the approaches, together with digitalization and more, a reasoning, was to make the issues of the court more accessible to the common citizen, which is what the second pillar addresses.
A direct line has been established only dedicated to providing an anonymous and safe form for citizens to report incidents of several corrupt practices, without having to fear the consequences of presenting the complaint. Each report will be tracked and addressed within 30-60 days, depending on the nature of the complaint.
When addressing the financial aspect of the Judiciary, it was announced that the Pakistan Government Audit Department conducted an external audit of the judicial accounts of 2024-2025. The result of that audit has reached the courts and the proposed concerns are being addressed.
The third pillar on the agenda was to “strengthen the legal and regulatory framework”, referring to the steps that the court will take to use artificial intelligence. Most of these procedures were already practiced and advised, but now they will be formed by implementing rules.
“Everyone talks about artificial technology and intelligence,” so the 61,000 files will be digitally scanned and the project will be completed in six months. Once the cases have been scanned, the use of AI will be implemented and used for tasks such as programming cases.
The president of the Supreme Court declared that the judges are not restricted to travel during the holidays during the judicial recess, however, for ordinary license, the judges must inform the administration. These SOPs would be directed even more to rest courts and vehicles, and the granting of license for the judges.
