Lok Sabha Question No. 4229 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-21
Subject: e-Courts Mission Mode Project
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: DODDAALAHALLI KEMPEGOWDA SURESH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE (DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 4229 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 21 st  MARCH, 2018

## e-Courts Mission Mode Project

## 4229. SHRI D. K. SURESH:

## Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a) the status of implementation of e-Courts Mission Mode Project in the country ;
- (b) whether the Government has achieved the target set for      e-Courts Mission Mode Project in the country and if so, the details thereof,
- (c) the details of the total number of e-Courts set up in the country till date; and
- (d) the details of  total allocation made and spent on the said project  in the country till date for the last three years?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW & JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (c): The Government is implementing the e-Courts Mission Mode Project throughout the  country  for  Information  and  Communication  Technology  enablement  of  district  and subordinate courts. The eCourts Mission Mode Project Phase I was implemented during 2011 2015 wherein Rs. 251 crores was released for computerisation of district and subordinate courts. At the end of Phase-I, out of the total target of computerisation of 14,249 district and subordinate courts,  sites  for  all  14,249  courts  (100%)  were  made  ready  for  computerisation,  out  of  which LAN  was  installed  at  13,643  courts,  hardware  provided  in  13,436  courts  and  software  was installed  in  13,672  courts. Laptops  were  provided  to  14,309  judicial  officers  and  change management exercise was completed in all the High Courts. Over 14,000 Judicial Officers were trained  in  the  use  of  UBUNTU-Linux Operating System and more than 4000 court staff have been trained in Case Information System (CIS) as System Administrators. Video Conferencing facility was operationalised between 488 court complexes and 342 corresponding jails.

Under the Phase II of the Project (2015-19), Rs. 936.98 crores has been released till date against the financial outlay of Rs.1670 crores. Computerisation of 16,089 district and subordinate courts has been completed, through provisioning of computer hardware, Local Area Network (LAN), and installation of standard application software.

The  details  of  computerised  district  and  subordinate  courts  under  various  High  Courts  are  as under:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

| S. No.   | Name of the High Court   |   No. of computerised subordinate courts |
|----------|--------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| 1.       | Allahabad                |                                     1733 |
| 2.       | Andhra Pradesh           |                                     1078 |
| 3.       | Bombay                   |                                     2079 |
| 4.       | Calcutta                 |                                      772 |
| 5.       | Chattisgarh              |                                      340 |
| 6.       | Delhi                    |                                      427 |
| 7.       | Gauhati                  |                                      442 |
| 8.       | Gujarat                  |                                     1108 |
| 9        | Himachal Pradesh         |                                      118 |
| 10.      | Jabalpur                 |                                     1203 |
| 11.      | Jammu And Kashmir        |                                      218 |
| 12.      | Jharkhand                |                                      351 |
| 13.      | Jodhpur                  |                                      978 |
| 14.      | Karnataka                |                                      897 |
| 15.      | Kerala                   |                                      486 |
| 16.      | Madras                   |                                      988 |
| 17.      | Orissa                   |                                      509 |
| 18.      | Patna                    |                                     1025 |
| 19.      | Punjab And Haryana       |                                     1018 |
| 20.      | Sikkim                   |                                       15 |
| 21.      | Uttarakhand              |                                      185 |
| 22.      | Tripura                  |                                       62 |
| 23.      | Manipur                  |                                       30 |
| 24.      | Meghalaya                |                                       27 |
|          | Total                    |                                    16089 |

A new and user-friendly version of Case Information Software (CIS 2.0) has been developed and deployed  at  all  the  computerized  District  and  Subordinate  Courts.  QR  Code  facility  has  been made operational in the software.  An advance version of CIS NC 3.0 has been made ready for deployment.

Till date, 11 High Courts have migrated to Case Information System National Core version 1.0.

The National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) for District & Subordinate Courts has been created as an online platform which now provides information relating to judicial proceedings/decisions of 16,089 computerized district and subordinate courts of the country. The portal provides online information to litigants such as details of case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders, and final judgments.  Currently litigants can access case status information in respect of over 9 crore  cases  and  more  than  6  crore  orders  /  judgments.  Litigant  centric  information  can  be obtained through the eCourts portal ( https://ecourts.gov.in).  Case information is thus available speedily to the petitioners and respondents. The eCourts portal and National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) also serve as tools of efficient court and case management for judiciary which aids in disposal of pending cases.

Judicial Service Centres (JSC) have been established at all computerized subordinate courts to serve  as  a  single  window  for  filing  petitions  and  applications  by  litigants/  lawyers,  and  for obtaining information on  ongoing cases and copies of orders and judgments etc. ECourts mobile app with the facility of QR Code was launched on 22.07.2017 for use of litigants and lawyers. Services under different captions viz. Search by CNR, Case Status, Cause List and My Cases are available on this application, which is available on both Google Play and Apple Store.

Furthermore,  the  facility  of  providing  case  information  services  through  SMS  has  also  been implemented and the process of disseminating system-generated SMSs is operational. The case details can also be obtained by sending unique CNR number (Case Number Record) to a mobile number through SMS. Cause lists, judgements, case status etc. can be received in the litigants' mailbox on registration of email address. Information Kiosks have been setup at all computerized court  complexes  for  disseminating  judicial  information  related  to  cause  lists  and  other  case related information to the lawyers and litigants.

An eFiling application to enable the advocates, petitioners-in-person, etc., to file their cases online (at any time) has been launched in December 2017 and has been deployed at Delhi district court and successfully tested at City Civil Court, Mumbai.

During the Phase II, till date, about 109.56 crore electronic transactions have been recorded for eCourts through eTaal portal.

(d)  Funds  allocated  by  the  Department  of  Justice  for  computerization  of  courts  in  the  country under eCourts Mission Mode Project Phase -II during the last three years are as under:

| Year                |   Funds released under eCourts Project for computerization of courts (Rupees in crores) |   Funds spent (Rupees in crores) |
|---------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| 2015-16             |                                                                                  210.23 |                           195.99 |
| 2016-17             |                                                                                  357.52 |                           176    |
| 2017-18 (till date) |                                                                                  369.23 |                            44.45 |

**