COLOMBO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Supreme Court conducted its first fully digital hearing on March 26, marking the operational rollout of a paperless judicial process under the country's e-court initiative.
The hearing, which relied entirely on electronic documentation, was a contempt of court case. During proceedings, the bench reviewed all case materials through computers using a digital case file prepared by the Supreme Court, with no physical documents used in court.
The hearing comes amidst the "e-Court" project to digitize the judicial system. The platform has been developed by the Supreme Court with technical support from Sri Lanka Telecom.
The Ministry of Justice and National Integration said the e-filing system, launched on Feb. 10, 2026, is seeing increasing use among legal practitioners, who can now submit cases electronically at a lower cost. ■