FASTER, a platform to reach court orders to the parties immediately, is considered to be particularly effective in stopping execution of a convict, demolition of slums and to give bail to undertrials.
New Delhi: Even as people are debating why did the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North MCD) continue with the demolition drive in the national Capital’s Jahangirpuri area for at least an hour and a half after the Supreme Court stayed the drive, a pertinent question arises — What happened to FASTER (Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records) system?
In the middle of a hullaballoo over the civic body’s action despite the apex court’s order, it is important to mention that around three weeks back, Chief Justice of India N V Ramana had launched FASTER, a platform to send orders to the parties in seconds, and the same was also widely reported by the media.
Then question arises what came in the way of transmitting the stay order on the demolition dive immediately to the officials present on the spot so that the victims could have been saved from the losses of homes and livelihood?
FASTER is considered to be particularly effective in stopping execution of a convict, demolition of slums and to give bail to undertrials. The Chief Justice had said at the inauguration of the new system that it would deliver fast and hassle-free justice. He had also reportedly observed while hearing a suo motu matter on undertrails of Agra jail that people were still looking at the pigeons in the sky to deliver their orders in the age of modern technology.
A three-day delay in releasing the undertrials from the Agra jail even after a court had passed the orders for their release as the orders had not reached the jail authorities had led to the birth of the new system to deliver justice without any delay on the part of the court administration.
The Supreme Court had taken suo motu note of the predicament of the undertrials on a media report last year.
(Nirnimesh Kumar is a retired journalist of The Hindu. He worked there for 25 years and covered courts)
Nirnimesh Kumar is a retired journalist. He worked in The Hindu for 25 years where he covered the legal beat. But his interest is prolific, including politics and history. He is a post graduate in history from Delhi University.