Sri Lanka’s judiciary crossed a quiet but significant threshold on 26 March 2026, when the Supreme Court conducted the country’s first fully digital, paperless hearing, a moment that signals the courts are beginning to catch up with the broader digital transformation taking shape across government institutions.
The hearing was presided over by Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, sitting alongside Justices Arjuna Obeyesekere and Dr. Sobhitha Rajakaruna. The case before the bench involved contempt of court proceedings against a respondent who had failed to pay a court-ordered fine of Rs. 3 million, a penalty arising from a fundamental rights case related to the alleged leak of the 2024 Grade 5 Scholarship examination paper ahead of the exam date.
What made the hearing historic was not the case itself but how it was conducted. Rather than the thick physical files that have long been a fixture of Sri Lankan courtrooms, the bench reviewed a fully digital case file via computer during open court. Supreme Court Registrar Manodhi Hewawasam read out the charge sheet aloud, after which the respondent digitally signed the document through the e-filing system, with access then extended to all relevant parties through the platform. The next hearing has been scheduled for 14 May 2026.
The hearing is the most visible milestone yet of the e-Court project, an initiative led by Chief Justice Surasena and developed in partnership with Sri Lanka Telecom. The e-filing platform was formally launched on 10 February 2026, enabling lawyers to submit cases electronically rather than through the traditional paper-based process. According to authorities, a significant number of cases have already been filed through the system since launch, and uptake among legal practitioners has been growing steadily.
The practical benefits are straightforward. Lawyers can file cases at lower cost and with greater convenience. The courts reduce their expenditure on stationery and, notably, cut down on foreign exchange spent on imported paper stock. The Ministry of Justice and National Integration has indicated that the system will be expanded to courts across the country, though no specific timeline has been confirmed.
For a judiciary that has long operated under a considerable backlog, the shift to digital processing is not merely a modernisation exercise. It is, in principle, a mechanism for improving the speed and accessibility of justice. The paperless trial on 26 March demonstrates that the infrastructure works in practice, not just on paper.