SL’s court proceedings to go online enabling remote hearing of cases

• Could help move SL’s ease of doing business ranking up
• Also, video recording of proceedings will increase transparency

Sri Lanka’s judiciary system is going to get a digital facelift soon to enable hearing of cases remotely (via online) with whole proceedings also set to be video recorded for complete transparency of the process. 

Sri Lanka’s judicial system has been one of the most inefficient and has been a drag on the country’s competitiveness as an investment and business destination as it remains one of the main areas holding back the country’s progress in its ease of doing business ranking. 

The pandemic has forced in-person court proceedings to be suspended. But in a positive light, it has also forced countries to think seriously on the possibilities of shifting their court proceedings online to maintain continuity.  

“As you all know, as a country we are being accused of lot of things like fundamental rights etc.,” said Dr. Jayantha De Silva, the Secretary to the Ministry of Technology. “So, we thought the first thing to do was to enable and computerise or digitalise the courts. There too we took a huge stance. We thought of digitalising the whole court system,” De Silva added.  Speaking at the recently concluded CMA Sri Lanka National Management Accounting Conference 2021, he said the project would entail video and audio recording of the entire court proceedings, which significantly enhance the confidence and international acceptance of the system. 

By doing so, he said the courts could do away with the need for stenographers on whom the country’s courts had depended for far too long. According to De Silva, the courts digitalisation project is carried out entirely by his Ministry with the Ministry of Justice and the government spending a huge amount of money on the project. 

Also making a regional first, the project will also make possible remote hearings of the cases where the judges, lawyers and the people could participate digitally.