The high court on Monday asked Bengal director-general of police Virendra to appear on December 13 and clarify why his department had failed to use the e-court facility to speed up the trials of undertrials.

Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued the order during the hearing of a petition moved by senior advocate Sekhar Bose who alleged that his client, an accused in a murder case at Jangipur, had been languishing in prison for over a year because of police inefficiency.

Bose had moved the case at the end of November and claimed that the Mushidabad police had repeatedly failed to produce his client in a Jangipur court for commitment of the trial.

During the commitment, the accused are informed by the court about the charges and the court asks him about his views on the case.

Following Bose’s plea, the high court had ordered Virendra to file an affidavit clarifying why his department was not taking advantage of the e-court system to hold the commitment through video-conferencing.

The HC had also sought an affidavit from the registrar-general of the high court regarding the progress of introduction of e-courts in the state.

When the case came up for hearing again on Monday, the registrar-general filed his affidavit saying the e-court system had been introduced across the state, but no affidavit was filed on behalf of Virendra. So, the court asked Virendra to appear on Friday.