Sri Lanka Records First Fully Digital Court Hearing

31-Mar-2026

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For the first time in Sri Lanka’s judicial history, a completely digital court hearing was conducted by the Supreme Court on March 26, in connection with the failure of a defendant to pay a Rs. 3 million fine imposed by the government over the leakage of the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination question paper in 2024.

During this historically significant hearing, the indictment against the defendant was also formally served through digital means.

As a major step towards the digitalisation of Sri Lanka’s judiciary, the Supreme Court conducted this landmark proceeding on March 26 without using any paper documents. The hearing, related to contempt of court, was taken up before a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, Justice Arjuna Obeysekera and Justice Sobhitha Rajakaruna.

For the first time in Sri Lanka’s court history, a fully digital case file was used instead of traditional paper records. The indictment was submitted in open court through the e-filing system, and the defendant also placed a digital signature in acknowledgement. The next hearing in the case has been postponed to May 14.

This digital transformation is part of the “E-Court” project launched by Chief Justice Surasena with the support of Sri Lanka Telecom. Under this project, lawyers are able to file cases online. It is expected to reduce expenditure on paper while improving the efficiency of the judicial system.

According to the Ministry of Justice and National Integration, since this pilot initiative has proven successful, plans are underway to expand it to other courts across the country. It is noteworthy that this e-filing system was made available to lawyers from February 10.