Lok Sabha Question No. 1763 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-13
Subject: e-Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: VINCENT H PALA, SHOBHA KARANDLAJE

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No . 1763 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 13 th  FEBRUARY, 2019

## e-Courts

## 1763.    SHRI VINCENT H. PALA: KUMARI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE:

## Will the MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the  e-Courts  project  has  made  significant  progress,  if  so,  the details thereof and the current status of the project along with the funds released and utilised for the same.;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  approved  second  phase  of  e-Courts mission mode project recently and if so, the objectives, estimated cost and specific targets set under the Project ;
- (c) the steps taken for ICT enablement of district and subordinate courts of the  country  and  the  details  of  number  of  electronic  transactions, transacted under e-Courts Project;
- (d) the steps taken in order to provide efficient and time-bound access to the  court  services  to  litigant  public,  who  are  on  the  other  side  of  the digital divide and don't have access to internet;
- (e) whether  the  Government  has  decided  to  deliver  e-Courts  services through around 2 lakh Common Service Centres (CSCs) and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) whether the Government has launched Automated  Mailing Service for the benefit of litigants and lawyers and if so, the details thereof?

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

(a)    to  (c)  :  Yes,  Madam.  The  eCourts  project  has  made  significant progress under the guidance of e-Committee of Supreme Court of India in  computerizing  district  and  subordinate  courts  of  the  country  and  the Government  has  also  approved  the  second  phase  of  eCourts  Mission Mode Project. The steps being taken by the Government to promote the use of technology in the working of the courts through computerisation of district and subordinate courts are as under:

- (i) The  eCourts  Mission  Mode  Project  Phase-I  was  implemented  till 2015. 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  was 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 UBUNTULinux Operating System and more than 4,000 court staff have been trained  as  System  Administrators  in  Case  Information  System (CIS).  Video  Conferencing  facility  was  operationalised  between 488 court complexes and 342 corresponding jails.
- (ii) The eCourts Mission Mode Project Phase-II is being implemented for a period  of four years (2015-19)  or  until the project is completed,  whichever  is  later.  The  objective  of  the  project  is  to provide  designated  services  to  litigants,  lawyers  and  the  judiciary through ICT enablement of courts. Against the financial outlay of Rs.1670 crores in the second phase, Rs.1,154.66 crores have been released, including Rs.931.3 crores to High Courts. Rs.632.3 crore have been utilised by the High Courts. The  target set out under the project  are  14249  courts  covered  under  the  first  phase,  4013  new courts and 1738 expected courts, totalling  20,000 courts.
- (iii) The eCourts Project equips the Judiciary to use ICT enabled tools to improve court and case management. The availability of online database enables judiciary to plan court administration. It leads to

making  the  justice  delivery  system  across  the  country  more transparent,  more  accessible  and  affordable.  Availability  of  case data online imparts transparency to the functioning of courts and facilitates easy access of such data to lawyers and litigants. Thus, ICT enablement of courts increases efficiency of justice delivery system through organised and easy access to case information, and transparency is the eventual outcome.

- (iv) As per information received from eCommittee of Supreme Court of India, 16,845 courts have been computerized till date. The High Court  wise  details  of  such  district  and  subordinate  courts  are  as Annexure  I.
- (v) All the district and subordinate courts computerized under eCourts project  have been linked to National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), which is a common repository of case records across the country . The  portal  also  provides  online  information  to  citizens  including 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 11.04 crore cases.
- (vi) 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. The application can be downloaded both from Google Play or Apple Store.
- (vii) Furthermore,  the  facility  of  providing  case  information  services through  SMS  has  also  been  implemented  and  the  process  of disseminating system-generated SMSs is operational.
- (viii) One of the important eCourts project components is establishment of  Wide  Area  Network  (WAN)  connecting  all   District  and Subordinate  court  complexes,  spread  across  the  country.  The eCommittee of Supreme Court of India gave approval to award the eCourts'  WAN project  to  BSNL.  Work  order  to  the  tune  of  Rs.

169 crores has been awarded to BSNL for establishing Wide Area Network  (WAN)  connecting  2992  district  and  subordinate  court complexes across the country, including 547 court complexes with no  connectivity.  National  Informatics  Centre  has  operationalised an  online  monitoring  tool  for  tracking  real-time  progress  and monitoring of pan - Indian WAN project against the set baselines. Optical  Fibre  Cable  (OFC)  has  already  been  laid  at  2385  court complexes so far, out of 2992 project locations.

- (ix) During the Phase II, till date, 174.47 crore electronic transactions have been recorded for eCourts through eTaal portal.

(d) and (e): Yes, Madam. The Government has decided to deliver e-Courts Services  through  Common  Service  Centre  (CSCs),  in  order  to  provide efficient and time bound access of eCourts Services to litigant public, who are on the other side of the digital divide and don't have access to internet. Integration of eCourts Services through Common Service Centers (CSC) has successfully been completed and this has enabled the eCourt  Service through Digital Seva Portal in all Common Service Center (CSC) locations across the country. The collaboration with Common Service Centers would thus mean  that litigants can access easily, and readily case status information available on eCourts database from any CSC.

(f):  Yes,  Madam.  Government  has  launched  Automated  Mailing  Service for the benefit of litigants and lawyers and has been made operational for all the district and subordinate courts in the country. Cause lists, case status etc.  can  be  received  in  the  litigants'  mailbox  on  registration  of  email address  with  the  respective  courts  under  the  eCourts  Project  through emailing  service . During  the  second  phase  (2015-19)  till  date,  a  total  of 7.20 crores emails have been sent.

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## ANNEXURE-I

| S. No.   | Name of the High Court    | Number of computerised district and subordinate courts   |
|----------|---------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|
| 1.       | Allahabad                 | 2,072                                                    |
| 2.       | Andhra Pradesh &Telangana | 1,078                                                    |
| 3.       | Bombay                    | 2,079                                                    |
| 4.       | Calcutta                  | 811                                                      |
| 5.       | Chhattisgarh              | 357                                                      |
| 6.       | Delhi                     | 427                                                      |
| 7.       | Gauhati                   | 496                                                      |
| 8.       | Gujarat                   | 1,108                                                    |
| 9.       | Himachal Pradesh          | 119                                                      |
| 10.      | Jammu And Kashmir         | 218                                                      |
| 11.      | Jharkhand                 | 351                                                      |
| 12.      | Karnataka                 | 897                                                      |
| 13.      | Kerala                    | 486                                                      |
| 14.      | Madras                    | 1,032                                                    |
| 15.      | Madhya Pradesh            | 1,293                                                    |
| 16.      | Manipur                   | 37                                                       |
| 17.      | Meghalaya                 | 39                                                       |
| 18.      | Orissa                    | 534                                                      |
| 19.      | Patna                     | 1,025                                                    |
| 20.      | Punjab And Haryana        | 1,018                                                    |
| 21.      | Rajasthan                 | 1,094                                                    |
| 22.      | Sikkim                    | 19                                                       |
| 23.      | Uttarakhand               | 186                                                      |
| 24.      | Tripura                   | 69                                                       |
|          | Total                     | 16,845                                                   |