Meghalaya launches e-court fee system to ease fee payment system in courts

The Chief Justice of the High Court of Meghalaya, Justice Sanjib Banerjee on Tuesday launched the Meghalaya E-Court Fee System in the presence of James P K Sangma, Minister for Registration, Taxation & Stamps, Law, etc, Judges of the Meghalaya High Court, Justice HS Thangkhiew and Justice W Diengdoh at a function held at the High Court of Meghalaya. 

The e-court fee system is an attempt to help ease the process of payments made in the courts. It is an internet-based application that gives people the convenience of making payments without hassles involved in obtaining physical judicial stamps. Meghalaya is the 17th state in the country to implement the system.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice Sanjib Banerjee said that it is an important and memorable day as the process of access to justice will be eased to a certain extent. He urged for the co-operation of the Bar Association as they will be the real users of the system on a daily basis. He hoped that the members of the Bar would acquaint themselves with the new system and use it accordingly. 

He expressed his gratitude to the government for its continuous support and also to the Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited for its participation in the process of digitization in the state.

Law Minister James P K Sangma in his speech highlighted the salient features of the e-court fee system, and also dwelt at length about the benefits of using the digital method instead of a physical one.

It may be mentioned that NCT of Delhi is the first State to initiate the launch of e-court fee collection system in November 2012. Meghalaya is the 17th state in the country to implement this system. e-court fee is a web-based system of paying court fees with the facility of verification, reconciliation, locking and cancellation.

The e-court fee will benefit the general public by providing easy accessibility, faster processing, online verification of genuineness of e-court fee paid, single court fee receipt of exact denomination irrespective of the amount and convenience of online payment of e-court fee from home or office.

It will also benefit the Government by providing safe and accurate collection mechanism, single point remittance to Government, it is ideal for paperless courts as only e-court fee number has to be mentioned in the petition, it will save space, manpower and cost saving, audit trail and MIS reporting.