ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has become the most advanced high court of the country in terms of information technology facilities as it launched the entire cases management through mobile applications.

The information technology department of the IHC prepared two applications - one for the IHC and the other for the subordinate judiciary.

The IHC application was launched on Thursday while the one for the district courts would be launched on Friday.

The technology would not only ease the burden of the courts and facilitate lawyers and litigants but would also enable citizens as well as overseas Pakistanis to lodge a complaint through their mobile phones with the human rights cell of the IHC.

The complainant can also monitor the progress on their case through the mobile application till the final disposal of the complaint besides accessing the compliance report.

Acting IHC Chief Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi on Thursday launched the mobile application which will enable users to get alerts, notifications and updates about the cases on their mobile screens.

The Islamabad High Court Bar Association organised a ceremony for the launch of the IT services at the Quaid-i-Azam Hall of the court.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice Qureshi said it was inevitable to bring courts at par with the international standards.

In a short period of time, Justice Qureshi said, a dynamic official app had been developed, replacing the old case flow management system with the new fully responsive one.

Justice Qureshi said the IT department successfully designed and implemented the district court online case flow management system, complaint cell besides establishing an archiving section and two-way SMS system.

“It is abundantly clear that the IT department is a success story in absolute terms,” said Justice Qureshi. He added that with this dedication we would certainly achieve the standards prevailing in the modern world.

The objective of the mobile app is to disseminate information relating to cases filed with the IHC and to generate alerts whenever a particular case comes up for institution, hearing, orders, notices, summons, comments, short order etc.

By using the app, litigants and lawyers can search cases based on the number, party name, respondent name and the advocate name. Besides, they will have the option to check copy petition status and daily cause list. The users will get auto notifications by opting for the case subscription.

According to an IHC official, over 10,000 files have so far been scanned but the scanning of about 45,000 files is yet to be completed to facilitate the users across the country when they apply for the copy petition. He said anyone can use the app free of cost and in the next stage copies of the orders would be made available on mobile phone.

So far, the application is available for android mobiles but the officials of the IT department said soon the iOS version would also be made available.

“The IHC has taken a lead in the field of digitalisation of courts and it would help in reducing the problems of lawyers and the litigants,” said Mohammad Waqas Malik, the secretary general of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association.

The president of the IHCBA, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, said the bench and bar should enhance cooperation and start focusing on bringing changes to the district judiciary.

Senior puisne judges of the IHC, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, and the judges of the subordinate judiciary along with a large number of lawyers attended the event.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2016