Kerala High Court Issues SOP For Paperless Operation Of 'Model Digital Family Court' In Sasthamkotta

The Kerala High Court has issued an office memorandum notifying an SOP consolidating the procedures for filing, case handling, viewing, production and retention of documents, service of processes, transfer of cases, and payment workflows governing Model Digital Family Court, Sasthamkotta.

The SOP has been prepared by the IT Directorate of the High Court for implementation of a Model Digital Family Court, Sasthamkotta. It is stated that the SOP is to be supplemental to the Civil Rules of Practice, 1971 (Kerala) and the Criminal Rules of Practice, Kerala, 1982. The SOP states that it applies to the digital infrastructure as mandated for paperless operations.

As per the SOP Advocates, litigants (party-in-person), advocate clerks, and organisations are to register in DCMS Portal: https://filing.keralacourts.in 

The SOP states that "The practice of physical filing of electronically filed pleadings and other documents, as stipulated in Clause 22 of the SOP published as per O.M. No. ECC4/11101612017(II) dated 31.12.2021 is dispensed with, subject to the conditions laid down hereinafter". 

1. Main case filing, petitions, counter filings, Vakalaths, caveats, and other filings shall be done as per the Electronic Filing Rules for Courts (Kerala), 2021.
2. Optional physical filing is allowed only in certain cases, i.e., in categories exempted under Rule 10 of the Electronic Filing Rules for Courts (Kerala), 2021. All the payments are to be done online via DCMS.
3. Court fees and payments shall be made online via DCMS.Credit of court fee and other payments will be directly transferred

   to the Treasury account of the Model Digital Family Court, Sasthamkotta.

4. The entire case files will be in digital form. The Judicial Officer can access them via the DCMS dashboard. Features include on the portal include: today's cause list, prior orders, annotations, AI-assisted summaries, and real-time dashboards.
5. For counselling of parties also, it is said that counsellors may, as far as possible, use video conferencing platforms to conduct counselling sessions, ensuring accessibility and convenience for all parties involved.
6. The Court shall have paperless proceedings and orders including proceedings paper, notes, and judgments shall be digitally prepared, signed, and uploaded. The court may conduct physical and Video Conferencing hearings, in order to ensure equal access to all parties.

7. It points to an Integrated VC Platform, wherein the Model Digital Family Court, Sasthamkotta, shall use the V Consol-secured video conferencing interface or such other video linkage platform as instructed by the High Court. Parties, witnesses, and advocates may join from anywhere in the world using the web-based or dedicated mobile application.

8. Witness depositions shall be recorded digitally through voice-to-text transcription, dictated by the presiding Judge. Exhibits and documents produced during evidence shall be digitally tagged and uploaded to DCMS.

The Court Records for the Model Digital Family Court, Sasthamkotta, shall be maintained exclusively in digital form.

Click to Read/Download Office Memorandum

Click to Read/Download SOP