Lok Sabha Question No. 1825 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-21
Subject: E-courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Sudheer Gupta, Shrirang Appa Barne, Bidyut Baran Mahato, Sanjay Sadashivrao Mandlik

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1825 TO BE ANSWERED ON MONDAY, THE 21 ST  SEPTEMBER, 2020

## E-courts

1825. SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA: SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE: SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO: SHRI SANJAY SADASHIVRAO MANDLIK:

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

- (a)  the current status of electronic courts in the country to eliminate the growing burden of cases in courts;
- (b)  whether e-courts are fully capable of effective and timely disposal of cases and if so, the details thereof;
- (c)    the  details  of  expenditure  likely  to  be  incurred  in  the  e-courts, State/UT-wise;
- (d)  whether Indian courts have adopted the method of e-filing;
- (e)  if so, the details of the courts where  e-filing is compulsory; and
- (f)    the  other steps taken/being taken by the Government to reduce paper  wastage  and  to  eliminate  the  burden  of  court  cases  in Indian judiciary?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a): The Government is implementing the e-Courts Mission Mode Project for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enablement of District and Subordinate Courts across the country in association with the eCommittee of the Supreme Court of India. The  eCourts  Mission  Mode  Project  Phase-II  commenced  its  implementation  in  2015. The  target  set  out  under  the  project  is  computerization  of  16,845 District  and Subordinate Courts, which has been completed. Against the financial outlay of Rs.1670 crores  for  this  Phase,  the  Government  has  released  a  sum  of  Rs.  1459.52  crore

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(including  Rs.  68.33  crore  in  2020-21)  to  various  organizations  involved  in  the implementation of the project. This includes a sum of Rs. 1077.76.crore released to all High Courts, out of which a sum of Rs.790.04 crore has been utilized till 31 st August, 2020.  In the financial year 2020-21, funds have been released to all High Courts for eSewa Kendra for High Courts and District Court Complexes, equipment for VC Cabins and  Connectivity  in  Court  Complexes  and  creating  Help  Desk  Counters  for  efiling  in Court Complexes.

As  per  information  received  from  eCommittee  of  Supreme  Court  of  India,  16845 courts  have  been  computerized.  The  High  Court  wise  status  of  implementation  of eCourts Project Phase-II   is at Annexure-I.

(b):    Disposal  of  cases  in  courts  is  primarily  within  the  domain  of  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 to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing.

However, through computerization of 16,845 District & Subordinate Courts and ICT  enablement  under  the  eCourts  Project  Phase-II,  several  services  have  been provided  to  litigants,  lawyers  and  Judiciary  which  facilitate  expeditious  delivery  of judicial services. 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  &  SMS  pull  services  and  touch  screen  based Information  Kiosks.  National  Judicial  Data  Grid  (NJDG)  for  District  &  Subordinate Courts, created as an online platform under the Project, provides information relating to judicial  proceedings/decisions  of  computerized  district  and  subordinate  courts  of  the country.  Currently,  all  stakeholders  including  Judicial  Officers  can  access  case  status information in respect of over 13.75 crore pending and disposed cases and more than 12.68  crore orders /  judgments  pertaining  to  these  computerized  courts.  Video Conferencing  facility  has  been  enabled  between  3240  court  complexes  &  1272 corresponding jails.

(c): The details of funds released and expenditure incurred by High Courts on eCourts Project Phase-II have been provided at Annexure-I.

(d)  to  (f):  Under  the  eCourts  Project,  e-filing  application  has  been  developed.  The eCommittee of the Supreme Court has designed and rolled out in the year 2018, an efiling system Version 1.0 and created a portal for this purpose ( e-Filing.ecourts.gov.in ). The portal enables electronic filing of legal papers. E-filing being the principal foundation for future  technological  enhancement  in  the  Indian  Judiciary,  Version  1.0  is  already available in High Courts and District Courts. The e-Filing application is integrated into the District Court CIS 3.2 & High Court CIS 1.0 software. The upgraded Version 2.0 for e-filing  has  also  been  prepared  by  e-Committee,  Supreme  Court  of  India,  and  is presently in an advanced stage undergoing security audits. E-filing software application version 2.0 has been prepared with the latest features like Advocate Portfolio, Advocate Clerk entry module, Calendar and integration with social media platforms. Draft Model e-filing rules have been framed and circulated by the eCommittee of the Supreme Court for  adoption  by  the  various  High  Courts  to  develop  a  standard  operating  procedure. However, e-filing has not been made compulsory in any court.

IT  Establishment  of  Virtual  Courts  have  helped  to  reduce  paper  wastage  and  to eliminate  the  burden  of  court  cases.  Virtual  Courts  have  been  rolled  out  to  try  traffic challan cases and have met with appreciable results. Presently there are 7 such courts in 6 States viz Delhi (2), Faridabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kochi and Pune. Environmentally friendly, these Virtual Courts enable adjudication of cases in paperless manner  with  e-payment  of  the  fine  imposed.  The  litigants  can  file  the  complaint electronically through e-filing, appears before a Judge virtually and also pay the court fees or fine online. Over 16 lakhs cases have been handled by these 7 Virtual Courts. Further to reduce the burden of court cases, the National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms has been pursuing a co-ordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears  and  pendency  in  judicial  administration,  which, inter-alia, involves better infrastructure for  courts  including  computerization,  increase  in  strength  of  subordinate judiciary, policy and legislative measures in the areas prone to excessive litigation, reengineering of court procedure and setting up Fast Track Courts for quick disposal of

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cases,  use  of  Alternative  Dispute  Resolution  mechanism  and  emphasis  on  human resource development.

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## ANNEXURE-I

| Sr.No   | High Court                  | Number of computerized district and subordinate courts   |   Total Funds Released (Cr.) |   released and Utilized by High Court Utilized (Cr.) |
|---------|-----------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------|
| 1       | Allahabad                   | 2072                                                     |                        99.1  |                                                80.96 |
| 2       | Bombay                      | 2079                                                     |                       118.5  |                                                89.14 |
| 3       | Calcutta                    | 811                                                      |                        33.81 |                                                14.84 |
| 4       | Chhattisgarh                | 357                                                      |                        25.95 |                                                20.4  |
| 5       | Delhi                       | 427                                                      |                        24.49 |                                                10.69 |
| 6       | Gauhati (Arunachal Pradesh) |                                                          |                        10.12 |                                                 3.51 |
| 7       | Gauhati (Assam)             | 496                                                      |                        68.94 |                                                38.61 |
| 8       | Gauhati (Mizoram)           | 496                                                      |                         6.85 |                                                 5.79 |
| 9       | Gauhati (Nagaland)          |                                                          |                         6.33 |                                                 5.63 |
| 10      | Gujarat                     | 1108                                                     |                        70.13 |                                                46.23 |
| 11      | Himachal Pradesh            | 119                                                      |                         9.88 |                                                 8.3  |
| 12      | Jammu & Kashmir             | 218                                                      |                        18.33 |                                                16.25 |
| 13      | Jharkhand                   | 351                                                      |                        22.42 |                                                15.74 |
| 14      | Karnataka                   | 897                                                      |                        62.17 |                                                46.41 |
| 15      | Kerala                      | 486                                                      |                        33.69 |                                                28.43 |
| 16      | Madhya Pradesh              | 1293                                                     |                        69.68 |                                                56.56 |
| 17      | Madras                      | 1032                                                     |                        66.6  |                                                56.39 |
| 18      | Manipur                     | 37                                                       |                         8.37 |                                                 4.67 |
| 19      | Meghalaya                   | 39                                                       |                         9.62 |                                                 6.87 |
| 20      | Orissa                      | 534                                                      |                        44.25 |                                                27.63 |
| 21      | Patna                       | 1025                                                     |                        51.65 |                                                36.79 |
| 22      | Punjab & Haryana            | 1018                                                     |                        50.66 |                                                48.78 |
| 23      | Rajasthan                   | 1094                                                     |                        63.98 |                                                56.46 |
| 24      | Sikkim                      | 19                                                       |                         6.68 |                                                 2.89 |
| 25      | Telangana & Andhra Pradesh  | 1078                                                     |                        70.82 |                                                47.52 |
| 26      | Tripura                     | 69                                                       |                        13.65 |                                                10.01 |
| 27      | Uttarakhand                 | 186                                                      |                        11.11 |                                                 4.55 |
|         | Total                       | 16845                                                    |                      1077.76 |                                               790.04 |

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