Lok Sabha Question No. 4376 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-29
Subject: Computerisation of Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: SADASHIV KISAN LOKHANDE

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 4376 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 29 TH  MARCH, 2017

## Computerisation of Courts

## 4376.

SHRI SADASHIV LOKHANDE

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

- a) whether  Government  has  declared  a  National  Policy  and  an action plan for computerisation of all the courts of the country for  providing  assistance  in  getting  quick,  qualitative  and affordable justice;
2. b)
3. if so, the main features of this scheme; and
- c) the  extent  to  which  this  policy  or  action  plan  has  been implemented in various courts of the country as on date?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW & JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## (Shri P.P.Chaudhary)

- (a) The  National  Policy  and  Action  Plan  for  Implementation  of Information and Communication Technology in the Indian Judiciary,  prepared  by  the  eCommittee  of  the  Supreme  Court  of India has got approval of the Chief Justice of India. Following the guidelines  set  under  the  Policy,  the  Government  of  India  has launched  the  eCourts  Mission  Mode  Project  for  Information  and Communication  Technology  Enablement  of  Indian  Judiciary  for providing  assistance  in  getting  quick,  qualitative  and  affordable justice.
- (b) Key  features  of the Project include provisioning of basic infrastructure for ICT enablement  which  consists of various modules, primarily such as computer hardware, Local Area Network (LAN), internet connectivity and installation  of  standard application software at each court complex and upgradation of ICT

Infrastructure of Supreme Court and all High Courts / Benches. It also includes provision of laptops to judicial officers and imparting ICT  training  to  them.  Process  Re-engineering  exercises    have been conducted by the High Courts which involve fundamental rethinking  and  re-designing  of  judicial  processes  to  bring  about  a significant improvement in performance.  Additional features of the Project include delivery of the services, inter alia, case registration, causelists, daily case status, and final order/judgment. Further, e-filing of cases, e-payment of court fees, process service through email and through process servers having hand held devices, receipt of digitally signed copies of judgments are also some of the services.

- (c) Under the Phase-II of the Project (2015-2019), the Government has released Rs.475.10 crores so far. Judicial proceedings/ decisions  of  computerised  district  and  subordinate  courts  of  the country are available on the e-Courts portal (http://www.ecourts.gov.in).   The portal provides online services to litigants  such  as  details  of  case  registration,  cause  list,  case status,  daily  orders,  and  final  judgments.  As  per  the  information available  on  the  National  Judicial  Data  Grid  (given  by  respective courts), there are 16,934 computerised courts in the country as on 1 st   December,  2016.  Currently  litigants  can  access  case  status information in respect of over 7.8 crore pending and decided cases and  more  than  4  crore  orders/judgements  pertaining  to  these computerised district and subordinate courts. Video Conferencing facility  has  been  enabled  between  493  courts  and  342  prisons under  the  Project.  Judicial  Service  Centres  (JSC)  have  been established  at  all  computerised  courts  which  serve  as  a  single window for filing petitions and applications by litigants/ lawyers as also obtaining information on  ongoing cases and copies of orders and judgments etc. As part of the Change Management exercise, over 14,000 Judicial Officers and over 4,000 court staff have been trained  in  CIS  software.  Furthermore,  for  the  benefit  of  litigants and lawyers, as many as 7.24 crore system-generated SMSs have been sent to the litigants and lawyers.