High courts, district courts conducted 25 lakh digital hearings during COVID-19 pandemic: Prasad

India is one of the few countries where work did not stop due to coronavirus pandemic, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday, noting that the government liberalised ‘work from home’ norms for the purpose.

He said 85 per cent of the work continued despite the pandemic outbreak.

"It was the digital ecosystem which kept the world together through internet, mobile phones and other IT enabling platforms," Prasad said at a virtual event.

The pandemic affected the health, life and safety of people around the world, but it also gave a lot of opportunities, he said, adding that it created many challenges requiring legal solutions.

The high courts and district courts in the country conducted about 25 lakh digital hearings during the pandemic and the Supreme Court had around 10,000 hearings digitally, the minister noted.

India has 25 high courts and nearly 19,000 district courts.

Virtual courts have been rolled out in more than seven cities and 25 lakh cases were disposed of, mostly related to traffic violations. A sum of Rs 115 crore was collected as fine in traffic-related cases, Prasad said.

Prasad, who also holds the charge of Information and Technology and Telecom ministries, said data is going to drive the economy.

"We are going to make a very robust data protection law where there is a fine blend between the privacy of an individual as regard to control over his data, nothing can be transferred without his consent," he said.

On the law education in India, the Union minister said it is very important that students are taught to think global but remain connected with the local.

Local issues and ideas, expectations and people's aspirations are important because they have shaped our evolution of constitutional ethos, he said.

The law minister also felt that for a functional democracy, country needs trained lawyers to adjudicate cases in courts. He said law practice needs patience and hard work.