Petition for Digitization of Legal Document Management

11 min readJun 24, 2024

I appeared in the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, Barasat, North 24 Parganas, on 6 May 2024. The HDFC ERGO on-floor advocate informed us of not finding the evidence document for the case CC/353/2022. The evidence document was sent to HDFC ERGO head office by registered post (RW579628005IN) 13 months back on 31 March 2023 due to the absence of the on-floor advocate. The DCDRC asked me to produce the documents and give a 2nd copy to the on-floor advocate. This felt like harassment and deliberately troubling to the plaintiff. I asked for the next hearing date and submitted a written request because the documents weren’t readily available to me. Later I sent an email complaint to the DCDRC and filed a Petition for Digitization of Legal Document Management.

The Email Complaint here follows.

from: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
to: confo-pn-wb@nic.in
cc: dr.ncdrc@gov.in, confo-rh-wb@gov.in, ncdrc@nic.in, team@ondc.org, support@digitallocker.gov.in, gicouncil@gicouncil.in, wb-sforum@nic.in
date: May 18, 2024, 11:38 PM
subject: Complaining for disregarding DCDRC bench time, presence, and effort by OP HDFC ERGO
mailed-by: gmail.com

Complaining to the Hon’ble President, DCDRC, Barasat, North 24 Parganas,

The last statement is for the Digilocker, ONDC, and the Bima Sugam legal, administrative, and executive teams.

Subject — Complaining for disregarding DCDRC bench time, presence, and effort by OP HDFC ERGO.

I’ve been asked to hand over (in person) the Evidence document of CC/353/2022 to the OP HDFC ERGO advocate once again on 6 May 2024 because it seems the Evidence Document sent 13 months back by registered post number RW579628005IN to the HDFC ERGO head office on 31 March 2023 can’t be located and isn’t handed over by HDFC ERGO Head office to the on floor advocate due to poor communication and coordination. The delivery report of RW579628005IN can be found in the link https://photos.app.goo.gl/xBvsVB3ZbFvRYFDw5. The copy wasn’t readily available with me, so I had to request to postpone to the next hearing date which is assigned on 13 September 2024. But I want to make a formal complaint for poor legal document digital inventory management in the company, poor legal document postal service processes in the company, and poor coordination between HDFC ERGO head office and the on-floor advocate in DCDRC, which has resulted in disregarding the bench’s time and presence, resulting in piling up of pending cases, causing harassment, frustration, and agitation to the plaintiff. The court has noted that I’m visibly frustrated due to the careless approach of the HDFC ERGO. If the OP is a multinational company, the key stakeholders often change during the lengthy litigations. A mandatory digital inventory by the order of the court for storing and accessing legal documents will ascertain that all the stakeholders in the multinational company have access to the documents at all points in time. The complaint is important for mandatory digitization and access to legal documents by all the key stakeholders in a multinational company. Prayer- Requesting appropriate penalty for utter negligence, carelessness, and disregarding the bench’s time, presence, and effort by the OP HDFC ERGO. CC/353/2022 details, Judicial Investigation Friendly Digital Systems, Judibility. https://rat9.medium.com/judicial-investigation-friendly-digital-systems-judibility-b121000a2280

Requesting Advocate Shalmoli to Draft the following complaint CC/354/2022. I’ve been asked to hand over (in person) the Brief Note of Argument (BNA) of CC/354/2022 to the OP HDFC ERGO advocate once again on 6 May 2024 because it seems 10 months back the BNA sent by the registered post number RW642070984IN to the HDFC ERGO head office on 24 June 2023 can’t be located and isn’t handed over by HDFC ERGO Head office to the on floor advocate due to poor communication and coordination. The delivery report of RW642070984IN can be found in the link https://photos.app.goo.gl/gmDByq3DHBELd8DA9. I’ve handed over the BNA in person to the advocate of HDFC ERGO as the bench instructed. But I want to make a formal complaint for poor legal document digital inventory management in the company, poor legal document postal service processes in the company, and poor coordination between HDFC ERGO head office and the on-floor advocate in DCDRC, which has resulted in disregarding the bench’s time and presence, resulting in piling up of pending cases, causing harassment, frustration, and agitation to the plaintiff. The court has noted that I’m visibly frustrated due to the careless approach of the HDFC ERGO. If the OP is a multinational company, the key stakeholders often change during the lengthy litigations. A mandatory digital inventory by the order of the court for storing and accessing legal documents will ascertain that all the stakeholders in the multinational company have access to the documents at all points in time. The complaint is important for mandatory digitization and access to legal documents by all the key stakeholders in a multinational company. The HDFC ERGO advocate will give me a reply (BNA) on the next hearing which is assigned on 13 September 2024. Prayer- Requesting appropriate penalty for utter negligence, carelessness, and disregarding the bench’s time, presence, and effort by the OP HDFC ERGO. CC/354/2022 details, How effective is complaining to the Insurance Ombudsman and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI)? https://rat9.medium.com/how-effective-is-complaining-to-the-insurance-ombudsman-and-the-insurance-regulatoryand-ba6f0f1f6b53

Please keep an eye on the DCDRC order on the complaint that might bestow an opportunity for Digilocker, ONDC, and Bima Sugam to extend their cloud service to Insurance Companies to store all the legal documents of customer lawsuits with appropriate access control which will improve the quasi-judicial and judicial ecosystem in the country.

Regards,
Ratul Aich
Principal Consultant UX (User Experience)
BSc Visual Communication (Film, Media, Design, and Journalism)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ratulaich
https://rat9.medium.com
https://quora.com/ratul-aich
https://x.com/rat9
https://Instagram.com/ratulaich
https://www.facebook.com/ratulaich

Another Successive Email was Sent to Key Stakeholders and Cloud Computing Beneficiaries (Government of India Cloud Computing Authorised Partners) of the Anticipated Order for Digitization of Legal Document Management.

from: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>
to: cc: confo-pn-wb@nic.in, gro@hdfcergo.comdr.ncdrc@gov.in, confo-rh-wb@gov.in, ncdrc@nic.in, team@ondc.org, support@digitallocker.gov.in, gicouncil@gicouncil.in, wb-sforum@nic.in, nishant@cafemutual.com, anita@cafemutual.com, grievance@hdfcergo.com, pankagup@amazon.com, birakayn@amazon.com, kamal.singh@bsnl.co.in, egov@ctrls.in, tender@cyfuture.com, sanchit@esds.co.in, pratikmehta@google.com, anindyabiswas@google.com, pmanocha@in.ibm.com, datacenter@itiltd.co.in, rajeshranjan@microsoft.com, simpli.egov@netmagicsolutions.com, vikram.rathore@airtel.com, angiah.santhanaswamy@oracle.com, geo@pidatacenters.com, csp@railtelindia.com, iyer.ananthakrishnan@ril.com, sushant.dubey@sifycorp.com, krishan.ghei@tatacommunications.com, kaushal.vedant@wwindia.com, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority HeadOffice <irda@irdai.gov.in>
date: May 20, 2024, 10:05 AM
subject:Re: Complaining for disregarding DCDRC bench time, presence, and effort by OP HDFC ERGO
mailed-by: gmail.com

Hello Everyone,

GRO HDFC ERGO. Please find below the email complaint w.r.t. case CC/353/2022 and CC/354/2022 sent to DCDRC, Barasat, North 24 Parganas, on May 18, 2024, 11:38 PM,

Subject — Complaining for disregarding DCDRC bench time, presence, and effort by OP HDFC ERGO.

A prospective Cloud Implementation opportunity (for the Digilocker, ONDC, and the Bima Sugam legal, administrative, and executive teams) will enable Data Science, and Semantic Analysis on the Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission’s (CDRC’s) ongoing general insurance and healthcare insurance consumer lawsuits, subject to the order of DCDRC with regards to the complaint made to DCDRC, Barasat, North 24 Parganas, on May 18, 2024, 11:38 PM, Subject — Complaining for disregarding DCDRC bench time, presence, and effort by OP HDFC ERGO. Likely (subject to the anticipated order with best intentions), by enforcement of a mandatory digitalization of all the legal healthcare insurance litigation documents (and general insurance litigation documents) will likely improve the Legal Knowledge Inventory, Centre of Excellence, and R&D, which will help everyone in the Healthcare Insurance Ecosystem (including GoI) to make a better decision for the Retail Customers and Group Insurance in the Insurance Sector. All of it is subject to the order against the complaint made to the District Consumer Dispute Redressal

Commission, Barasat, North 24 Parganas, w.r.t. case CC/353/2022 and CC/354/2022 on May 18, 2024, 11:38 PM, Subject — Complaining for disregarding DCDRC bench time, presence, and effort by OP HDFC ERGO. Please find below the email sent to DCDRC, Barasat, North 24 Parganas, on May 18, 2024, 11:38 PM, Subject — Complaining for disregarding DCDRC bench time, presence, and effort by OP HDFC ERGO. Addition Resources, Why Digital Health Investors Should Rethink Their Strategy: The $1 Trillion Healthcare Platform TAM. https://www.summithealth.io/insights/digital-health-platform-investment-strategyIRDAI met intermediaries to discuss future of insurance distribution. https://cafemutual.com/news/insurance/32111-irdai-met-intermediaries-to-discuss-future-of-insurance-distribution

Petition for Digitization of Legal Document Management.

from: ratul aich <ratulaich@gmail.com>to:confo-pn-wb@nic.in
cc: InsuranceRegulatoryandDevelopmentAuthority HeadOffice <irda@irdai.gov.in>, krishan.ghei@tatacommunications.com, rajeshranjan@microsoft.com, simpli.egov@netmagicsolutions.com, vikram.rathore@airtel.com, kaushal.vedant@wwindia.com, csp@railtelindia.com, angiah.santhanaswamy@oracle.com, sanchit@esds.co.in, pratikmehta@google.com, pmanocha@in.ibm.com, iyer.ananthakrishnan@ril.com, tender@cyfuture.com, datacenter@itiltd.co.in, kamal.singh@bsnl.co.in, pankagup@amazon.com, grievance@hdfcergo.com, geo@pidatacenters.com, egov@ctrls.in, anita@cafemutual.com, nishant@cafemutual.com, gicouncil@gicouncil.in, team@ondc.org, ncdrc@nic.in, sushant.dubey@sifycorp.com, birakayn@amazon.com, confo-rh-wb@gov.in, dr.ncdrc@gov.in, gro@hdfcergo.com, support@digitallocker.gov.in, wb-sforum@nic.in, anindyabiswas@google.com, Prof Arul Selvan IGNOU MAJMCOL <ksarul@ignou.ac.in>, “Dr. Amit Kumar Assistant Professor” <amitkumar@ignou.ac.in>, Ms Padmini Jain Assistant Professor MAJMC Coordinator IGNOU <padminijain@ignou.ac.in>, “Dr. Shikha Rai Associate Professor MAJMC Coordinator IGNOU” <shikharai@ignou.ac.in>
date: Jun 18, 2024, 5:20 PM
subject:Re: Complaining for disregarding DCDRC bench time, presence, and effort by OP HDFC ERGO
mailed-by: gmail.com

Hello Everyone,

Petition sent on 18 June 2024 by registered post RW780882337IN requesting mandatory digitization of legal document inventory management for remote access by all stakeholders, to regard District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission Bench’s presence, time, and effort. Subsequently, in the best interest of the plaintiff’s presence, time, and effort. Subject to acceptance of petition by DCDRC (Barasat, N24PGS, WB) and anticipated court order, digitization opportunity awaiting across CDRC and Judiciary.

BEFORE THE LEARNED DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION,
BARASAT, NORTH 24 PARGANAS
C.C. №353 Of 2022

Complaint under Section 35 of the
Consumer Protection Act, 2019

AND

In the matter of:

Ratul Aich,
203, Yasree Sundaram,
15/9 Midland Place,
Rahara, Khardaha,
Kolkata — 700118
ratulaich@gmail.com

……………… Complainant

Versus

The Authorised Signatories:

HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited.
IRDAI Reg №146
1st Floor, HDFC House,
165/166 Backbay Reclamation,
H.T.Parekh Marg,
Churchgate,
Mumbai — 400 020

……………… Opposite Party

The humble petition is on behalf of the complainant.

PUT UP

MOST RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH:

Today is the date fixed for evidence.
That on the 6th of May 2024, the complainant was instructed to personally deliver the Evidence Document of CC/353/2022 to the advocate representing HDFC ERGO, as it has come to light that the document was sent via registered post 13 months back, under tracking number RW579628005IN, to the HDFC ERGO head office on the 31st of March 2023 cannot be located. The delivery report is attached. Despite numerous attempts and inquiries, it appears that the document was not handed over by the HDFC ERGO head office to the on-floor advocate, citing poor communication and coordination within their internal processes.
That the complainant was unable to immediately produce a copy of the Evidence Document during the hearing, necessitating a request for postponement to the subsequent hearing scheduled for the 13th of September 2024.
That this delay is deeply concerning in terms of the disregard for the court’s time and proceedings and subsequently had an adverse impact on the plaintiff, leading to heightened levels of harassment, frustration, and agitation.
That the opposite party’s digital inventory management system for legal documents has proven to be inadequate and inefficient. Documents crucial to ongoing litigations are not adequately cataloged or easily accessible, leading to delays and errors in legal proceedings. This lack of proper management has directly contributed to the piling up of pending cases in CDRC and has caused unnecessary harassment and frustration to plaintiffs such as myself.
That the postal service processes related to legal document delivery within the company have been substandard. Instances of documents being mishandled, delayed, or lost in transit, further exacerbate the challenges faced in legal proceedings. Such negligence in postal service management reflects poorly on the opposite party’s commitment to due diligence and professionalism.
That if the opposite party is a multinational company, the key stakeholders often change during the lengthy litigations. A mandatory environment-friendly digital inventory (in today’s tech-savvy society) for storing and accessing legal documents will ascertain that all the stakeholders in the multinational company have access to the documents at all points in time. The complaint is important for mandatory digitization and access to legal documents by all the key stakeholders in a multinational company. I’m requesting appropriate penalties for utter negligence, carelessness, and disregarding the bench’s time, presence, and effort by the opposite party.
That the petition has been made bona- fide and for the ends of justice.

Hence, Your Honor would graciously be pleased to
Take the necessary steps and allow the petition and pass
Such as necessary order/orders as Your Honor may
deem Fit and proper.

Your petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray.

Date:

Place:

Court Order

The order was released on 12 June 2024 but it was emailed to me on 20 June 2024, at 1:30 PM by DCDRC, Barasat, North 24 Parganas.

from: DCDRC North 24 Parganas (BARASAT) <confo-pn-wb@nic.in> via nic.in
to: ratulaich@gmail.com
date: Jun 20, 2024, 1:30 PM
subject: CC/353/2022 and CC/354/2022
mailed-by: nic.in
signed-by: nic.in
security: Standard encryption (TLS) Learn more

Order No 14 CC/353/2022 Dated 12 June 2024

Image to Text conversion of the CC/353/2022 Order № 14 Dated 12 June 2024.

DIST. CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESAL COMMISSION
NORTH 24 Pgs., BARASAT.
C.C. № 353/2022

PRESENT
:- Sri Daman Prosad Biswas………President.
:- Sri. Abhijit Basu………………. Member.

Order № 14
Dated. 12.06.2024

Record is put up today relating to complaint lodged by Complainant before the Higher Authorities. He raised series of allegations which bears no merit. His ultimate intension for early disposal of this case.

Hence, for the satisfaction of the Complainant date is preponed to 24/06/2024.

To 24/06/2024 for filing questionnaire by the O.Ps.
To 28/06/2024 for filing answer by the Complainant.
To 01/07/2024 for evidence by the O.Ps., if any.
To 02/07/2024 for questionnaires by the Complainant.
To 03/07/2024 for filing answer by the O.Ps.
To 04/07/2024 for argument and BNA.

Both parties must be ready on the aforesaid dates.

Informed both sides.

Copy of this order be sent to both the parties at the cost of the
Commission.

Member
President

Order No 13 CC/354/2022 Dated 12 June 2024

Image to Text conversion of the CC/354/2022 Order № 13 Dated 12 June 2024.

DIST. CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESAL COMMISSION
NORTH 24 Pgs., BARASAT.
C.C. № 354/2022

PRESENT
:- Sri Daman Prosad Biswas………President.
:- Sri. Abhijit Basu………………. Member.

Order № 13
Dated. 12.06.2024

Hence, for the satisfaction of the Complainant date is preponed to 04/07/2024.

To 04/07/2024 for argument and BNA.

Both parties must be ready on the date fixed.

Informed both sides.

Copy of this order be sent to both the parties at the cost of the
Commission.

Member
President

An additional annexure concerning the Put-up petition was filed on 10 July 2024 in DCDRC. Letter to NCDRC GOI to Use Digital Softcopies, RTI NCDRC-R-E-22–00281. To my understanding, DCDRC mentioned it as a separate petition in their order. (Link)

First in the series is Judicial Investigation Friendly Digital Systems, Judibility. (Link)

Previous in the series is Complaint Against District CDRC Barasat, North 24 Parganas in response to the RTI NCDRC-R-E-24–00040. (Link)

Next in the series is the Democratization of Black Box UX. (Link)