India’s first fully computerized court was opened on Sunday at the High Court in Hyderabad, the capital of the Indian state of Telangana and de jure capital of Andhra Pradesh.

Set up in November 1956, Hyderabad's High Court of Judicature is the common High Court of the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Inaugurating the e-court on Sunday, Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B. Lokur said these two states were the first in the country to be chosen for Integrated Criminal Justice System (ICJS) project.

The ICJS, he said, is a "system which is going to integrate police stations with the courts, with jails, with the prosecution and with the forensic science laboratories." One of the reasons for the decision to launch the ICJS in the Hyderabad High Court was the large progress in technology the two states have made.

"It is not only the e-court in the sense it is fully computerized but it is also a paperless court. We spent a few minutes understanding the system and I tried my hand at using the technology. It's extremely user friendly. I will encourage all judges to try it," said Justice Lokur, who heads the e-Committee of the Supreme Court. "During this coming week I am going to try and introduce this in Supreme Court as well," he added.

The purpose of e-courts was to ensure speedy justice for the litigants, the Supreme Court judge noted. He stressed the need to appoint staff for paperless courts and advised judges to focus on online data entry.