Specifications

Assumptions

Theme	Assumption
Orders	At least 1 order is generated as an outcome of every hearing
All proceedings of the hearing will be captured as part of the transcript. Apart from Plea, no other attributes are required to be captured as part of the hearing
Identity Verification	Identity Verification of parties joining the case will be done as part of the hearing
Hearings	The bench clerk will be responsible for managing the participants in the Video Conference during the hearing including admitting people into the room, muting/unmuting members etc

Workflow

1. To set a hearing, the judge recommended potential Dates. The judge can either select one of the suggested dates or select a custom date for submission.

2. During a set window of time before the hearing (Configurable), advocates of parties should have the option to raise a rescheduling request/checkout request with supporting reasons. On raising a rescheduling request, a rescheduling application will be generated based on the details mentioned here.

3. This will be visible to the judge in their Pending Tasks. The judge can either accept or reject the Reschedule Application. If multiple parties raise requests for rescheduling for the same

4. On rejection, the hearing date remains as is and a corresponding order for the same is generated, which is to be signed by the judge. See details of Order generation here

5. On Acceptance, the hearing is moved to 'Hearing date under Consideration’. The hearing date will remain the same in the back end till a new hearing date is assigned. 5 (Configurable) suggested dates are displayed to all advocates of all parties. The advocates can select and opt out of dates that do not work for them.

6. Once preferences are received or 3 (configurable) days have elapsed, whichever is earlier, the Judge will receive a Pending task to ‘Schedule Hearing’

7. The judge can select a date based on the suggestions received by the scheduling logic (solution layer) or select a custom date to schedule a hearing.

8. Pending Tasks: The various actors will be able to see pending tasks related to scheduling in the Pending Tasks Screen. The list of pending tasks is mentioned here

9. Attendance: The bench clerk can record the attendance of participants during a hearing.

   1. An attendance list containing all the parties who are part of a case will be available. The bench clerk can mark each party as present/absent/exempted/not required.

   2. If a party is absent and their absence is condoned by the court, then additional check boxes such as not required/exempted would be marked by the bench clerk.

   3. Additionally, the bench clerk may add names of additional members who attended the hearing to the list, based on discretion.

10. Transcription: Orders, Witness depositions/testimonies of a hearing have to be recorded and stored as transcriptions

    1. For the automated transcription of hearings, integration with a transcription system will be done at the solution layer

    2. For the product layer, a screen-to-type transcription will be made available for the judge and typist/stenographer

    3. Both the typist/stenographer may view the transcription in real-time and update the same, as required

    4. On the completion of the hearing, the judge has to publish the transcription in PDF format. E-signing will be required for transcription

    5. All transcription PDFs will be available in the documents section in the hearing.

    6. Litigants have access to the transcripts relevant to their hearings. Judges may refer to the same when drafting judgements.

11. Order Generation:

    1. Every hearing will end with the generation of an order

    2. The order post-hearing will contain 2 parts:

       1. A summary of the hearing

       2. Instruction to the litigants/advocates/witnesses on a single action or multiple actions at one point in time-based on Judge Discretion.

    3. Once the user opens the order form, they can choose one for multiple order types based on which form fields will be displayed in the UI.

    4. To assist the Judge, the bench clerk may draft an order on behalf of the judge. However, the final order can be published only by the judge

    5. The generation, signing and publishing of orders will follow the same workflow as the order (Details here)

12. Activities during a hearing:

    1. The following set of activities can be performed by the judge across hearings of all types:

       1. Mark Documents as evidence (Details here)

       2. View and Approve/Reject Applications (Details here)

       3. Impose Penalty (Details here)

       4. Refer Case to ADR

       5. Issue Summons/Notices

13. Based on the Purpose of hearing, specific activities can be performed:

    1. Plea Hearing: Record Plea:

       1. The judge/typist/stenographer can record whether the respondent has pleaded guilty/not guilty/other

    2. Evidence and Cross-Examination Hearing:

       1. Record Witness Testimony (Details here)

    3. Bail Hearing:

       1. Generate Order for Bail (Details here)

    4. Admission Hearing:

       1. Admit a case (Details here)

    5. Sometimes after a case is called out (i.e. the hearing for the case has technically begun), a case can be “kept back” for hearing later on the same day. This is not the same as an adjournment and no order is passed when a case is kept back. The case simply moves down the queue of the causelist for that particular day and is called out again later. System should be able to handle this as it is a common occurrence in courts. This may be required, for instance, because an advocate is appearing before another court, or because a witness/party is slightly delayed in arriving, or because some minor compliance needs to be completed, etc.

14. Cause List: A cause list is a schedule or list that outlines the cases or matters that will be heard in a courtroom on a particular day. This list provides information about the order in which cases will be presented, the names of the parties involved, and other relevant details. The cause list will be available for all parties to download.

15. A dedicated dashboard will track the number of adjournments of hearings, mark the missed hearings by litigants and record the reasons for absences or requests for adjournment or extensions. The same dashboard would allow judges to track the status of summons and other critical aspects, tailored to each stage of the case. This dashboard can be accessed by the judges through their login portal.

Ideas for Future Development

(The following are currently not available in V1.0)

• Automated generation of links for video conferencing

• Integration with Video Conferencing System

• Automated recording of exemption status of parties during attendance based on approval of exemption application.

• User cannot mark Personal events on the Calendar

• Displaying court holidays/Judge holidays on calendars

• Granular hearing-level timings rather than hearings just being part of a slot

Functional Specifications

#	Field	Remarks	Mandatory/Optional	Field Type
	Hearing ID	System generated	Mandatory	ID
	Case ID	Case for which hearing is scheduled	Mandatory	ID
	Application ID	If hearing against an application	Mandatory	ID
	Hearing DateTime	DateTime when hearing is scheduled	Mandatory	Date Time
	Purpose of Hearing	Type of Hearing	Mandatory	Text, Array
	Order ID	Order Issued as part of hearing, multiple orders may be issued as part of hearing	Mandatory	ID
backlink from evidence	Evidence ID	If evidence document is generated as part of hearing	Optional	ID
	Transcript	Transcript of the Hearing	Mandatory	Document Link?
	Hearing summary	Summary of the hearing populated post the hearing	Mandatory	Text
	Attendees		Mandatory	Array