MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a): The Government is implementing the e-Courts Mission Mode Project for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enablement of District and Subordinate Courts across the country in association with the eCommittee of the Supreme Court of India. The eCourts Mission Mode Project Phase-II commenced its implementation in 2015. The target set out under the project is computerization of 16,845 District and Subordinate Courts, which has been completed. Against the financial outlay of Rs.1670 crores for this Phase, the Government has released a sum of Rs. 1459.52 crore (including Rs. 68.33 crore in 2020-21) to various organizations involved in the implementation of the project. This includes a sum of Rs. 1077.76.crore released to all High Courts, out of which a sum of Rs.790.04 crore has been utilized till 31st August, 2020. In the financial year 2020-21, funds have been released to all High Courts for eSewa Kendra for High Courts and District Court Complexes, equipment for VC Cabins and Connectivity in Court Complexes and creating Help Desk Counters for efiling in Court Complexes.
As per information received from eCommittee of Supreme Court of India, 16845 courts have been computerized. The High Court wise status of implementation of eCourts Project Phase-II is at Annexure-I.
(b): Disposal of cases in courts is primarily within the domain of judiciary. Timely disposal of cases in courts depends on several factors which, inter-alia, include availability of adequate number of judges, supporting court staff and physical infrastructure, complexity of facts involved, nature of evidence, co-operation of stake holders viz. bar, investigation agencies, witnesses and litigants and proper application of rules and procedures to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing.
However, through computerization of 16,845 District & Subordinate Courts and ICT enablement under the eCourts Project Phase-II, several services have been provided to litigants, lawyers and Judiciary which facilitate expeditious delivery of judicial services. eCourts services such as details of case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders & final judgments are available to litigants and advocates through eCourts web portal, Judicial Service Centres (JSC) in all computerized courts, eCourts Mobile App, email service, SMS push & SMS pull services and touch screen based Information Kiosks. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) for District & Subordinate Courts, created as an online platform under the Project, provides information relating to judicial proceedings/decisions of computerized district and subordinate courts of the country. Currently, all stakeholders including Judicial Officers can access case status information in respect of over 13.75 crore pending and disposed cases and more than 12.68 crore orders / judgments pertaining to these computerized courts. Video Conferencing facility has been enabled between 3240 court complexes & 1272 corresponding jails.
(c): The details of funds released and expenditure incurred by High Courts on eCourts Project Phase-II have been provided at Annexure-I.
(d) to (f): Under the eCourts Project, e-filing application has been developed. The eCommittee of the Supreme Court has designed and rolled out in the year 2018, an e-filing system Version 1.0 and created a portal for this purpose (e-Filing.ecourts.gov.in). The portal enables electronic filing of legal papers. E-filing being the principal foundation for future technological enhancement in the Indian Judiciary, Version 1.0 is already available in High Courts and District Courts. The e-Filing application is integrated into
the District Court CIS 3.2 & High Court CIS 1.0 software. The upgraded Version 2.0 for e-filing has also been prepared by e-Committee, Supreme Court of India, and is presently in an advanced stage undergoing security audits. E-filing software application version 2.0 has been prepared with the latest features like Advocate Portfolio, Advocate Clerk entry module, Calendar and integration with social media platforms. Draft Model e-filing rules have been framed and circulated by the eCommittee of the Supreme Court for adoption by the various High Courts to develop a standard operating procedure. However, e-filing has not been made compulsory in any court.
IT Establishment of Virtual Courts have helped to reduce paper wastage and to eliminate the burden of court cases. Virtual Courts have been rolled out to try traffic challan cases and have met with appreciable results. Presently there are 7 such courts in 6 States viz Delhi (2), Faridabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kochi and Pune. Environmentally friendly, these Virtual Courts enable adjudication of cases in paperless manner with e-payment of the fine imposed. The litigants can file the complaint electronically through e-filing, appears before a Judge virtually and also pay the court fees or fine online. Over 16 lakhs cases have been handled by these 7 Virtual Courts. Further to reduce the burden of court cases, the National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms has been pursuing a co-ordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration, which, inter-alia, involves better infrastructure for courts including computerization, increase in strength of subordinate judiciary, policy and legislative measures in the areas prone to excessive litigation, re-engineering of court procedure and setting up Fast Track Courts for quick disposal of cases, use of Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism and emphasis on human resource development.
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ANNEXURE-I
Sr.No High Court Number of computerized district and subordinate courts Total Funds released and Utilized by High Court
Released
(Cr.) Utilized
(Cr.)
1 Allahabad 2072 99.10 80.96
2 Bombay 2079 118.50 89.14
3 Calcutta 811 33.81 14.84
4 Chhattisgarh 357 25.95 20.40
5 Delhi 427 24.49 10.69
6 Gauhati
(Arunachal Pradesh) 496 10.12 3.51
7 Gauhati (Assam) 68.94 38.61
8 Gauhati (Mizoram) 6.85 5.79
9 Gauhati (Nagaland) 6.33 5.63
10 Gujarat 1108 70.13 46.23
11 Himachal Pradesh 119 9.88 8.30
12 Jammu & Kashmir 218 18.33 16.25
13 Jharkhand 351 22.42 15.74
14 Karnataka 897 62.17 46.41
15 Kerala 486 33.69 28.43
16 Madhya Pradesh 1293 69.68 56.56
17 Madras 1032 66.60 56.39
18 Manipur 37 8.37 4.67
19 Meghalaya 39 9.62 6.87
20 Orissa 534 44.25 27.63
21 Patna 1025 51.65 36.79
22 Punjab & Haryana 1018 50.66 48.78
23 Rajasthan 1094 63.98 56.46
24 Sikkim 19 6.68 2.89
25 Telangana & Andhra Pradesh 1078 70.82 47.52
26 Tripura 69 13.65 10.01
27 Uttarakhand 186 11.11 4.55
Total 16845 1077.76 790.04
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