Lok Sabha Question No. 3882 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-11
Subject: E-Courts Scheme
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Ramesh Chander Kaushik, Saikia Dilip

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3882 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 11 th  DECEMBER, 2019

## E-Courts Scheme

3882. SHRI RAMESH CHANDER KAUSHIK: SHRI DILIP SAIKIA:

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

- (a):  the  current  status  of  e-courts  in  the  country  including  the  State  of  Haryana and  the  North-Eastern  States  and  Assam  to  remove  the  increasing  burden  of cases in the country;
- (b): whether e-courts are fully capable for effective and timely disposal of cases; and
- (c): if so, whether these have been implemented in North-Eastern States including Assam?

## 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, 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.  1249  crore  as  on  date  to  various  organizations  involved  in  the implementation of the project. This includes a sum of Rs. 955.86 crore released to all High Courts, out of which a sum of Rs.761.32 crore has been utilized.

In  respect  of  the  High  Courts  of  Punjab  &  Haryana  and  High  Courts  in  the North Eastern States, including the State of Assam, the status of implementation of eCourts Project Phase-II is as under:

| High Court       | State (s)          |   Number of District and Subordinate Courts computerized |   Funds released by Government as on date (Rs. Crore) |   Funds utilized by High Courts as on date (Rs. Crore) |
|------------------|--------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| Punjab & Haryana | Punjab and Haryana |                                                     1018 |                                                 49.58 |                                                  39.42 |
| Guwahati         | Arunachal Pradesh  |                                                       15 |                                                  9.14 |                                                   3.49 |
| Guwahati         | Assam              |                                                      383 |                                                 47.5  |                                                  38.1  |
| Guwahati         | Mizoram            |                                                       61 |                                                  6.34 |                                                   5.79 |
| Guwahati         | Nagaland           |                                                       37 |                                                  5.63 |                                                   5.6  |
| Manipur          | Manipur            |                                                       37 |                                                  6.6  |                                                   3.42 |
| Meghalaya        | Meghalaya          |                                                       39 |                                                  7.71 |                                                   6.71 |
| Sikkim           | Sikkim             |                                                       19 |                                                  4.18 |                                                   2.7  |
| Tripura          | Tripura            |                                                       69 |                                                 10.22 |                                                   9.69 |

(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  &  pull  services.  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  12.68  crore  pending  and  disposed  cases  and  more than 10.56 crore orders / judgments pertaining to these computerized courts. Video Conferencing  facility  has  been  enabled  between  3240  court  complexes  &  1272 corresponding jails.

(c):  Yes,  Sir.  The  details  of  implementation  of  eCourts  Project  Phase-II  have  been provided in Part (a) above.

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