National Meet on Judicial History: 'Record Keeping Most Neglected Part in Courts'

Cuttack, July 17: The two-day National Conference on Judicial History and Archives became a unique platform for discussion on a unique interdisciplinary subject of judicial history.

While Prof Partha Chatterjee, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies was the distinguished guest, Chairman National Monument Authority and Director General Archaeological Survey of India Prof Kishor Kumar Basa was the chief guest at the valedictory function.

Justice Shripathi Ravindra Bhat, Judge, Supreme Court of India inaugurated the conference at Odisha Judicial Academy, Cuttack and it was attended by Dr Amar Farooqui, Dr Anirudh Deshpande, Dr Ashok Anshouman, Dr Jatin Nayak, Umakanta Mishra, Dr Sasmiti Rani Sasini, Dr Sanjay Garg, Dr Karuna Mahil, Dr Bhavani Raman, Dr Prakash R, Dr Aparna Balachandran and Bidisha Chakrobarty.

Eminent historians Dr Prabhu Prasad Mohapatra, Dr Suranjan Das, Dr Nivedita Mohanty and Dr Lalatendu Das Mohapatra also participated in the deliberations. The conference has its genesis in the judicial history project undertaken by the High Court of Orissa in the Centre for Judicial Archives which was established on May 1, 2022.

In 2021 after establishment of Record Room Digitization Centre (RRDC) when preservation of old case records was taken up, documents dating back to the early 19th Century containing information on the functioning of the erstwhile judicial system were discovered. This led to conception of an idea of having a project for documenting the Judicial History of Odisha.

In March, 2022 the Chief Justice put forth a proposal before the Chief Minister for support of the State Government in establishment of a Centre for Judicial Archives and financial, infrastructural and personnel support for the judicial history project. The Chief Minister promptly reciprocated assuring support of the State Government to the project.

Several interesting topics were discussed by the historians and archivists in different sessions of the conference. During the valedictory session of the conference Justice MS Sahoo, Judge, High Court of Orissa complimented all the historians, archivists and participants for successful completion of the conference.

Speaking on the occasion Prof Basa highlighted the importance of judicial archives and lauded the effort of Chief Justice Dr S Muralidhar in establishing the centre in Cuttack. He said just like judicial process is conversation between the judge and lawyers, history is the conversation between the historian and the facts.

He added, historians are always concerned with the elements of change and elements of continuity. He said tracing the judicial history of India from the ancient period to the modern period is a challenge. Prof Basa urged the historians and students of judicial history to explore the possibility of inscriptions serving as sources of information about the judicial system of ancient period.

Dr. Justice S Muralidhar, Chief Justice, High Court of Orissa informed the participants the background of judicial history project undertaken by the High Court. Highlighting the importance of recordkeeping he said records are the soul of the functioning of a court but ironically, recordkeeping is the most neglected part in the courts across the country.

He added, in absence of records the proceedings in the trial courts get stalled for years together and realizing this the High Court first took the step of digitizing the trial court records and sending them back to the trial courts which helped them revive very old matters.

The Chief Justice discussed the advantages of digitization and archiving of judicial records. He expressed satisfaction that the High Court of Orissa has made the beginning in the field of judicial archiving and urged the students to take care of the project in future. Justice Sashikanta Mishra proposed the vote of thanks.