On Monday, the Calcutta High Court launched a new portal designed for the monitoring of criminal cases filed within the High Court's jurisdiction on the criminal side.

The Systemized Administration and Regulation of Tendering and Handling All Court Cases (SARTHAC) portal, initially introduced by the State Government in 2016 for online access to appellate side writ pleas filed before the High Court, has been expanded. Now, it incorporates enhanced features for monitoring criminal cases within the High Court's jurisdiction.

Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam, accompanied by Justice Debangshu Basak and Law Minister Moloy Ghatak, presided over the inauguration ceremony.

"Today is a landmark day for the Calcutta HC. Thanks to Justice Basak for making this possible through a judicial order. This methodology has been working since 2016 for the appellate side writ petitions, and rightly, it is extended to the criminal jurisdiction, which is more important since we find multiple pleas filed for bail by counsels, and this methodology will help weed out that problem.''

''The data is being transmitted on a real-time basis, and we thank the law minister for making this possible. Hopefully, we can shift this to a larger space, but space is a constraint at the High Court. One more important aspect is that the data that is available will help in case any doubt arises in the police station or the public prosecutor's office. I wish you all the best for the implementation of this project."