Ranchi, Jan. 15: An online test is keeping the state’s family of around 500 laptop-aided magistrates and district judges on their toes with most of them spending the evening studying to keep abreast of the latest in the legal world.

Conducted every fortnight by Jharkhand Judicial Academy, the online evaluation, a first in the country, was developed after Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice Bhagwati Prasad realised the need for regular training of judicial officers manning districts and lower courts.

And since it wasn’t possible to summon them for training to Ranchi every fortnight, the academy devised an online test. “We got a software developed for the online test bearing in mind that around two years back all the judicial officers were given laptops,” said an academy official.

The test, mandatory for all judicial officers, except those on special assignment — like high court registrars, officer on special duty (judicial) at Raj Bhavan — was introduced in November last year. Now, a move is on to link performance in it to promotions.

Three rounds of tests have been conducted so far, the last one on Monday and Tuesday.

Judicial officers from the rank of judicial magistrate to chief judicial magistrate took the test on Day One, while officers of the rank of additional district judge to district judge took it on the next day.

For convenience, the tests are held after 6 pm after court hours. An officer logs in to the Jharkhand Judicial Academy website using an individual ID and password. A click on an icon marked questions, leads him/her to three questions of one mark each.

According to a judicial magistrate, the installed software enables an examinee to log in only once. “The examinee gets logged out automatically after 25 minutes. So, there is not much time to go through voluminous books while answering questions,” he pointed out.

After evaluation, judicial officers who do not get a minimum of one mark are warned and asked to improve. “If they still fail to improve, there is a proposal to enter their score in their career records,” he added.

Justice Bhagwati is pleased at the way things have turned out. “Everybody should appreciate it,” he told The Telegraph on the online tests.

The idea is to ensure judicial officers stay updated on various laws and their proper interpretations. They were also supposed to be aware of the latest judgements of the Supreme Court as well as high courts so that they are not led by lawyers to rely on old rulings while delivering orders.

The test incorporates questions related to day-to-day work and focuses less on Constitutional issues, that are normally taken up in the high court. For example, one of the recent questions was on various former ministers of Jharkhand, including former chief minister Madhu Koda booked by both CBI and Enforcement Directorate.

The question was how to count the number of days in custody if an accused was booked in several cases. Answer: an accused gets bail on technical grounds if the prosecution agency does not file chargesheet in the stipulated 90 or 60 days, depending on the nature of cases.

But, there seems to be a flip side to the exercise. “The disposal rate (of cases) has been affected to some extent as officers are spending time in the study room, cutting down hours spent in the court room,” pointed out a senior judicial officer.

There was another gripe. Especially from those who did not fare well in the tests. A few have suggested that results of those who do not perform well be communicated individually instead of being sent collectively to the concerned district judge.