Lok Sabha Question No. 3613 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-01-02
Subject: Transparency in Judicial Process
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: GOPAL CHINAYYA SHETTY

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. †3613

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 02 ND  JANUARY, 2019.

## Transparency in Judicial Process

## †3613. SHRI GOPAL SHETTY:

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

- (a)  whether the Government has taken any steps for making the judicial process transparent;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the progress made in this regard till date ?

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

(a) to (c) : Judicial process is within the domain of Judiciary.  Regarding live streaming of Supreme Court proceedings of constitutional and national importance have an impact on the  public  at  large,  the  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  in  its  judgement  dated  26 th September, 2018, in Writ Petition (Civil) No.66 of 2018 - Indira Jai Singh versus Secretary General, Supreme  Court  &  Others,  has  observed  that  (i)  it  is  important  to  re-emphasise  the significance  of  live-streaming  as  an  extension  of  the  principle  of  open  justice  and  open courts;  (ii)The  process  of  live-streaming  should  be  subjected  to  carefully  structured guidelines, (iii) Initially,  a  pilot project may be conducted for about three months by livestreaming only cases of national and constitutional importance which can be expanded in due course with availability of infrastructure.

In Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 99 of 2015 (Pradyuman Bisht versus Union of India & others), Supreme Court of India, inter-alia, directed that CCTV cameras (without audio recording) may be installed inside the subordinate courts and at such important locations of the court complexes as may be considered appropriate in at least two districts of every State / Union Territory (with the exception of small States / Union Territories where it may be  considered  to  be  difficult  to  do  so  by  the  concerned  High  Courts).    The  Hon`ble Supreme Court further directed that it is desirable that CCTV cameras are installed in all subordinate courts in such phased manner as may be considered appropriate by the High

Courts.  In pursuance of the above direction of the Hon'ble Court, a copy of the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court was forwarded to Registrars General of all High Courts and Chief Secretaries / Administrators of all States / UTs by the Department of Justice, Ministry of  Law  and  Justice  on  28 th August,  2017  for  taking  action  to  install  cameras  in  all Subordinate  Courts.    The  respective  High  Courts  are  to  decide  and  take  action  for installation  CCTV  cameras  in  the  subordinate  courts  in  their  jurisdiction.    It  has  been further directed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court that the footage of the CCTV cameras will not be available under R.T.I. and will not be supplied to anyone without permission of the concerned High Court.

Further,  the  Government  has  been  implementing  the  e-Courts  Mission  Mode Project  for  Information  and  Communication  Technology  enablement  of  district  and subordinate courts, across the country in association with the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.  The eCourts Mission Mode Project Phase-I was implemented during 2011 - 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.

Computerisation  of  16,845  district  and  subordinate  courts  has  been  completed, through provisioning of computer hardware, Local Area Network (LAN), and installation of standard application software in district and subordinate courts.  During the Phase II, till date, 164.11 crore electronic transactions have been recorded for eCourts through eTaal portal.    The  eCourts  transactions  have  thus  emerged  as  one  of  the  topmost  accessed services of the Government of India.

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