Lok Sabha Question No. 3644 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-17
Subject: Establishment of Court in Rajasthan
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Kanakmal Katara

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED  QUESTION NO. †3644 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 17 TH  MARCH, 2021

## Establishment of Court in Rajasthan

## †3644. SHRI KANAKMAL KATARA:

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

- (a)  the number of courts proposed to be set up by the Government in view of shortage of courts in Rajasthan;
- (b)  whether there is any proposal to set up courts also in Bansara-Dungarpur in Rajasthan;
- (c)  whether funds have been released by the Government for this purpose; and
- (d)  the steps being taken by the Government to ensure timely justice to the people of the State?

## A N S W E R

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a)  to (c) : It  is  the  primary  responsibility  of  the  State  Governments  to  set  up Courts  and  to  provide  Judicial  Infrastructure  /  Court  Rooms  for  District  / Subordinate Courts.  The Union Government has been implementing a  Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary by  providing  financial  assistance  to  State  Governments  /  UTs  in  the  prescribed fund sharing pattern between Centre and States. The  Scheme is being implemented  since  1993-94.    It  covers  the  construction  of  court  halls  and  court complexes  and  residential  accommodations  for  Judicial  Officers  of  District  and Subordinate Judiciary.  Till 10.03.2021, Rs. 8295crore have been released since the inception  of  the  Scheme  in  1993-94.    Out  of  this,  Rs.  286.62    crore  has  been released to the State Government of Rajasthan. 1250 court halls have been made available for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts under this scheme as on 28.02.2021. In addition, 217 court halls are under construction.  The yearwise funds released to the State Government of Rajasthan under the Scheme is at Annexure .As per information received from State Government of Rajasthan,there is no such proposal to set up courts in Bansara-Dungarpur in Rajasthan.

(d):  Disposal  of  cases  in  courts  is  within  the  domain  of  the  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. Government has no role in disposal of cases in courts. No time frame has been prescribed for disposal of various kinds of cases by the respective courts.

The Government is, however, fully committed to speedy disposal of cases. The Government has taken several initiatives to provide an ecosystem for faster disposal of cases by the judiciary.  The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms established by the Government has adopted a coordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration through various strategic initiatives, including improving infrastructure for courts, leveraging  Information  and  Communication  Technology  (ICT)  for  better  justice delivery, and filling up of vacant positions of Judges in High Courts and Supreme Court.

The  major  steps  taken  during  the  last  six  years  in  the  country  including Rajasthan under various initiatives are as follows:

- (i) Improving  infrastructure  for  Judicial  Officers  of  District  and  Subordinate Courts: As on date, Rs. 8,295crores have been released since the inception of the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  (CSS)  for  Development  of  Infrastructure Facilities  for  Judiciary  in  1993-94.  The  number  of  court  halls  has  increased from  15,818  as  on  30.06.2014  to  20,075  as  on  28.02.2021  and  number  of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 17,738 as on 28.02.2021  under  this  scheme.  In  addition,  2,463  court  halls  and  1,861 residential  units  are  under  construction.  As  far  as  the  State  of  Rajasthan  is concerned, 1250 court halls and 1016 residential units are available in the State as  on  28.02.2021.  In  addition,  217  court  halls  and  146  residential  units  are under construction.
- (ii) Leveraging  Information  and  Communication  Technology  (ICT)  for  improved justice  delivery:  Government  has  been  implementing  the  e-Courts  Mission Mode  Project  throughout  the  country  for  Information  and  Communication Technology  enablement  of  district and subordinate courts.    Number  of

computerized  District  &  Subordinate  courts  has  increased  from  13,672  (in 2014) to 18,735 as on 22.02.2021, registering an increase of 5,063.  New and user-friendly  version  of  Case  Information  Software  has  been  developed  and deployed  at all the computerized  District and  Subordinate  Courts. All stakeholders  including  Judicial  Officers  can  access  information  relating  to judicial  proceedings/decisions  of  computerized  District  &  Subordinate  Courts and High Courts on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG). As on 03.03.2021, litigants  can  access  case  status  of  over  18.28  crore  cases  and  13.88  crore order/judgements pertaining to these courts.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  &  pull  services.  Video  Conferencing  facility  has  been  enabled between 3240 court complexes and 1272 corresponding jails. With a view to handle the COVID- 19 challenges better and to make the transition to virtual hearings smoother, funds have been provided for setting up 235 e-SewaKendras at court complexes to facilitate lawyers and litigants needing assistance ranging from case status, getting judgements/orders,  court/case related information and efiling  facilities.  Nine  Virtual  Courts  have  been  set  up  at  Delhi  (2  courts), Faridabad (Haryana), Pune & Nagpur (Maharashtra) Kochi (Kerala), Chennai (Tamil  Nadu),  Guwahati  (Assam)  and  Bengaluru  (Karnataka)  to  try  traffic offences.  As  on  20.01.2021,  these  courts  have  handled  41,98,095  cases  and realised Rs.139.25cr in fines.

In the State of Rajasthan, 1240 courts housed in 247 court complexes have been computerized under eCourts Project Phase-II. So far in Phase-II, an amount of Rs.  67.80  crore  has  been  released  to  the  High  Court  of  Rajasthan.  Currently, litigants of Rajasthan can access online case status information through NJDG in  respect  of  over  73.97  lakh  pending  and  decided  cases  and  more  than  8.57 lakh  orders/judgements  of  district  &  subordinate  courts  of  the  State.  Video conferencing  facility  has  been  provided  in  238  court  complexes  and  95 corresponding jails in the State of Rajasthan under eCourts project.

- (iii) Filling up of vacant positions in Supreme Court, High Courts and District and Subordinate Courts: From 01.05.2014 to 01.03.2021, 35 Judges were appointed in Supreme Court. 576 new Judges were appointed and 524 Additional Judges were  made  permanent  in  the  High  Courts.  Sanctioned  strength  of  Judges  of High Courts has been increased from 906 in May, 2014 to 1080 currently. As far as the position of Judges in High Court of Rajasthan is concerned, there are 23 Judges working against sanctioned strength of 50 Judges in the Rajasthan High  Court  as  on  15.3.2021.  Sanctioned  and  working  strength  of  Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate Courts has increased as follows:

| As on      | Sanctioned Strength   | Working Strength   |
|------------|-----------------------|--------------------|
| 31.12.2013 | 19,518                | 15,115             |
| 04.03.2021 | 24,283                | 19,295             |

There  were  1292  Judges/Judicial  Officer  working  against  the  Sanctioned Strength of 1489 Judges/Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate Courts in the State of Rajasthan as on 28.02.2021.

Filling up of vacancies in Subordinate judiciary falls within the domain of the State Governments and High Courts concerned.

- (iv) Reduction  in  Pendency  through  /  follow  up  by  Arrears  Committees:  In pursuance  of  resolution  passed  in  Chief  Justices'  Conference  held  in  April, 2015,  Arrears  Committees  have  been  set  up  in  High  Courts  to  clear  cases pending for more than five years.  Arrears Committees have been set up under District  Judges  too.    Arrears  Committee  has  been  constituted  in  the  Supreme Court  to  formulate  steps  to  reduce  pendency  of  cases  in  High  Courts  and District Courts including Rajasthan.

Further Communications have been addressed by Minister of Law & Justice to Chief Justices of High Courts and to Chief Ministers on 20.06.2014 and  14.08.2018  drawing  their  attention  to  cases  pending  for  more  than  five years and to take up pendency reduction campaign.

- (v) Emphasis on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (as  amended  on  20 th August, 2018) stipulates mandatory pre-institution mediation and settlement of commercial disputes. Amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been made by the Arbitration and Conciliation  (Amendment)  Act  2015  for  expediting  the  speedy  resolution  of disputes by prescribing timelines.
- (vi) Initiatives  to  Fast  Track  Special  Type  of  Cases:  The  Fourteenth  Finance Commission endorsed the proposal of the Government to strengthen the judicial system in States which included, inter-alia, establishing Fast Track Courts for cases of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children etc.,

and urged the State Governments to use the additional fiscal space provided in the  form  of  enhanced  tax  devolution  from  32%  to  42%  to  meet  such requirements. As on 31.01.2021, 894 Fast Track Courts (FTC) are functional for heinous crimes, crimes against women and children. Further, Government has approved a scheme for setting up 1023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) across the country for expeditious disposal of pending cases of Rape under IPC and  crimes  under  POCSO  Act.  As  on  date,  28  States/UTs  have  joined  the scheme  for  setting  up  of  842  FTSCs  including  363  'exclusive  POCSO Courts'.Presently  616  FTSCs  are  functional  including  330  exclusive  POCSO Courts, which disposed 39653 cases as on 31.01.2021. In the State of Rajasthan, 45 FTSCs including26 exclusive POCSO Courts are functional, which disposed 1703 cases as on 31.01.2021.

- (vii) In addition, to reduce pendency and unclogging of the courts the Government has recently amended various laws like the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Commercial Courts (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Specific  Relief  (Amendment)  Act,  2018,  the  Arbitration  and  Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2018.

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## Referred to in Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. †3644 for Reply on 17.03.2021

| Year      |   Fund released to the State Government of Rajasthan (In Rs. cr.) |
|-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1993-94   |                                                              1.39 |
| 1994-95   |                                                              2.71 |
| 1995-96   |                                                              2.65 |
| 1996-97   |                                                              2.43 |
| 1997-98   |                                                              2.93 |
| 1998-99   |                                                              2.36 |
| 1999-2000 |                                                              2.49 |
| 2000-01   |                                                              3.41 |
| 2001-02   |                                                              3.29 |
| 2002-03   |                                                              1.96 |
| 2003-04   |                                                              3    |
| 2004-05   |                                                              0    |
| 2005-06   |                                                              0    |
| 2006-07   |                                                              0    |
| 2007-08   |                                                              0    |
| 2008-09   |                                                             12.57 |
| 2009-10   |                                                              0    |
| 2010-11   |                                                              0.7  |
| 2011-12   |                                                             11.72 |
| 2012-13   |                                                             10.42 |
| 2013-14   |                                                              0    |
| 2014-15   |                                                              0    |
| 2015-16   |                                                             50    |
| 2016-17   |                                                             43.74 |
| 2017-18   |                                                             17.34 |
| 2018-19   |                                                             17.41 |
| 2019-20   |                                                             64.21 |
| 2020-21   |                                                             29.9  |
| Total     |                                                            286.63 |