Lok Sabha Question No. 5353 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-28
Subject: Reforms in Civil Justice System
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: B.N. CHANDRAPPA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5353

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 28 TH     MARCH, 2018.

## Reforms in Civil Justice System

## 5353. SHRI B.N. CHANDRAPPA

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

- (a)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  there  is  an  urgent  need  to  bring  about reforms in the civil justice system of the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken in this regard so far;
- (c) whether the Government has taken note of the fact that people in the country are very much disappointed due to inordinate delay in disposal of cases in all the
- courts of the country; and
- (d) if so, the response of the Government thereto?

## ANSWER

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

(a) and (b): A series of measures have been taken to enable the expeditious disposal of civil  cases.  These  include  relevant  amendments  to  the  Civil  Procedure  Code  to  impose limit on the number of adjournments that may be granted to each party to three times and imposition of costs for  adjournments; allowing service of summons using email, fax, speed post, courier services or directly through the plaintiff; providing for dismissal of suit where summons are not served in consequence of plaintiff's failure to pay costs; and limiting the time limit for filing of written statement by the defendant.

Necessary amendments have also been made to Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996  to  make  the  award  within  12  months,  to  resolve  the  dispute  through  fast  track procedure,  to ensure neutrality of arbitrators, and to restrict usage/ interpretation of  the term  'Public  Policy  of  India'  as  a  ground  for  challenging  the  award.  Further,  in  March, 2018,  the Government  has  decided  to  introduce    the  Arbitration  and  Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018  in the Parliament, which seeks to facilitate speedy appointment of arbitrators through designated arbitral institutions by the Supreme Court or High Courts.

With  a  view  to  address  the  issue  of  faster  resolution  of  matters  relating  to commercial  disputes,  the  Commercial  Courts,  Commercial  Division  and  Commercial Appellate  Division  of  High  Courts  Act,  2015  was  enacted  and  commercial  courts  were established  at  District  Levels  in  all  jurisdictions,  except  in  the  territories  over  which  the High Courts have original ordinary civil jurisdiction i.e. the High Courts of Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta,  Madras  and  of  Himachal  Pradesh.  The  specified  value  of  such  commercial disputes to be adjudicated by the Commercial Courts or the Commercial Division of High Court, as the case may be, is presently Rs.1 crore.

Further, in March, 2018, the Government has decided to introduce  the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018   in the Parliament, which seeks to reduce the specified value of a commercial dispute to Rs.3 lakh from the present Rs.1 crore, and provide for establishment  of  Commercial  Courts at district  Judge  level  for  the  territories  over  which respective High Courts have ordinary original civil jurisdiction i.e. in the cities of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and State of Himachal Pradesh.

(c) and (d): Disposal  of  cases,  including  civil  cases,  pending  in  various  courts  of  the country, is within the domain of the judiciary.  The Central Government is fully committed to  assisting  the  judiciary  to  enable  speedy  disposal  of  cases.    It  has  undertaken  many steps towards achieving this objective.

One important step is, strengthening of judicial infrastructure in districts through the Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  (CSS)  for  Development  of  Infrastructure  Facilities  for Judiciary wherein a total of Rs. 6,100 crore has been released since 1993-94, out of which Rs. 2,655 crore (43.52%) has been released since April, 2014.  17,986 Court Halls and 14,986  Residential  Accommodations  have  been  made  available  for  Judicial  Officers  of District  and  Subordinate  Courts  as  on  date.    In  addition,  3,151  Court  Halls  and  1,785 Residential  Accommodations  are  under  construction.  The  Central  Government  has approved  continuation  of  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  (CSS)  for  Development  of Infrastructure  Facilities  for  Judiciary  beyond  the  12 th Five  Year  Plan  period i.e. from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020 with an estimated outlay of Rs.3,320 crore.

Under the Phase-I (2010-15) of the eCourts Mission Mode Project undertaken by the  Central  Government,  against  a  total  target  of  computerisation  of  14,249  courts,  the computerisation  of  13,672  district  and  subordinate  courts  has  been  achieved.    This includes the installation of hardware, the LAN and software.  This has enabled the courts to  upload  the  case  status  and  orders  online.    Status  of  cases  and  copies  of  judgments have also been made available on the websites of the respective District and Subordinate Court  Complexes  which  have  been  computerised.    Rs.  935.00  crore  were  allocated  for Phase - I out of which Rs. 639.41 crore were utilized.

A budget outlay of Rs.1670 crores was approved for the Phase II of the eCourts Mission Mode Project (from July, 2015 upto 31 March 2019).  The facilities of e-services such as cause lists, case status, daily orders, judgments etc. are being provided under the supervision of  e-Committee  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  Computer  Committees  of respective  High  Courts.    A  total  of  16,089  district  and  subordinate  courts  have  been computerised under the eCourts Project till date. Video Conferencing facility has also been opertionalised  between  488  court  complexes  and  342  corresponding  prisons  during  the period  2015-17.  The  National  Judicial  Data  Grid  (NJDG)  developed  under  this  project provides updated information on civil and criminal cases, including pending cases, for the computerised district / subordinate courts in the country.

Another  initiative  with  a  focus  to  improve  access  to  justice  is  the  Tele  Law Scheme launched on 20 th April, 2017, which is an effort to provide legal advice pro-actively to  the  marginalised sections of society through Common Service Centres (CSCs).   This initiative facilitates delivery of legal advice through an expert panel of lawyers stationed at the  State  Legal  Service  Authorities  (SLSA).  Under  this  Scheme,  Para  Legal  Volunteers (PLVs)  connect  potential  litigants  with  lawyers  through  video  conferencing  facilities  at CSCs  which  are,  operated  by  Village  Level  Entrepreneurs.    The  Scheme  has  been launched  in  1800  Gram  Panchayats  in  11  States  (U.P.,  Bihar,  J&K,  Assam,  Arunachal Pradesh,  Meghalaya,  Mizoram,  Manipur,  Tripura,  Nagaland,  Sikkim).    A  total  of  12,218 cases  have  been  registered  by  PLVs  under  the  scheme  and  legal  advice  has  been provided in 9,094 cases.

The Government has also launched a scheme for Pro Bono Legal Services in April,  2017  in  which  interested  lawyers and  litigants can  register  on  the  website (www.doj.gov.in) to provide and avail pro-bono legal services as may be required. So far, 224 lawyers have registered on the portal and more than 298 cases have been assigned for pro bono assistance. In  order  to  reduce  cases  pending  in  courts  for  over  10  years,  the  Government has recently introduced Nyaya Mitra Scheme covering 227 selected districts of 16 States. Under the Scheme, retired judicial officers are engaged and designated as 'Nyaya Mitra' to facilitate expeditious disposal of the cases pending over 10 years.  In the first Phase, 15 Nyaya Mitras have been engaged.

In  pursuance of  a resolution passed in the Chief Justices' Conference held in April, 2015, 24 High Courts have set up Arrears Committees to clear the backlog of cases pending  for  more  than  five  years.  The  Supreme  Court  has  also  constituted  an  Arrears Committee  consisting  of  two  Hon'ble  Judges  to  formulate  steps  to  reduce  pendency  of cases in High Courts and District Courts. At district level, the District Judge holds monthly meeting  of  all  judicial  officers  to  monitor  progress  made  in  reduction  of  long  pending cases.

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