Lok Sabha Question No. 3238 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-05
Subject: Costly 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. †3238

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 05 TH  AUGUST, 2022

## COSTLY JUDICIAL PROCESS

## †3238. SHRI GOPAL CHINNAYA SHETTY:

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

- (a) whether judicial process in the country from lower courts to the High Courts and Supreme Court is quite costly and people have to wait for years to get justice causing hardship for the poor in getting justice;
- (b) whether the Supreme Court has stressed on the promotion of Lok Adalats, which have  now  got  a  statutory  status,  stating  that  speedy  justice  especially  in  respect  of criminal cases is an essential component of the fundamental rights to life and freedom and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to take effective steps to organise Lok Adalats more frequently for making the judicial process affordable and clearing of pending cases timely in courts; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

- (a): Disposal of pending cases in courts is within the domain of the judiciary.  No time frame has been prescribed for disposal of various kinds of cases by the respective courts. Government has no direct role in disposal of cases in courts.  Timely disposal of  cases in courts depends on several factors which, inter-alia, include availability of adequate number of judges and judicial officers, 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. There are several  factors  which  may  lead  to  delay  in  disposal  of  cases.    These,  inter-alia,  include vacancies of judges, frequent adjournments and lack of adequate arrangement to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing. The Central Government is fully committed to speedy disposal of cases in accordance with Article 21 of the Constitution and reducing pendency. The Government has taken several initiatives to provide an ecosystem for faster disposal of cases by the judiciary.

National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms was set up in August, 2011 with the twin objectives of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears in the  system and  enhancing  accountability  through  structural  changes  and  by  setting  performance standards  and  capacities.    The  Mission  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,  re-engineering  of  court  procedure  for  quick  disposal  of  cases  and  emphasis  on human resource development.

The  major  steps  taken  during  the  last  eight  years  under  various  initiatives  are  as follows:

## (i) Improving  infrastructure  for  Judicial  Officers  of  District  and  Subordinate

Courts: As  on  date,  Rs.  9013.21  crores  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 20,993 as on 30.06.2022 and number of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 18,502 as on 30.06.2022 under this scheme. In addition, 2,677 court halls and 1,659 residential units are under construction (as per Nyaya Vikas Portal).

The  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  for  the  Development  of  Infrastructure  Facilities  for Judiciary has been extended till 2025-26 at a total cost of Rs. 9,000 crore, out of which central share will be Rs. 5,307 crore. Besides, construction of Court Halls and Residential Units,  it  would  also  cover  construction  of  lawyer's  halls,  toilet  complexes  and  digital computer rooms.

## (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  to  18,735  so  far.  WAN  connectivity  has  been  provided  to  99.3%  of  court complexes.  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 04.07.2022, litigants can access case status of  over  20.86  crore  cases  and  18.02  crore  order/judgments  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 3,240 court complexes and 1,272 corresponding jails. With a view to handle the COVID- 19 challenges better and to make the transition to virtual hearings smoother, 500 e-Sewa Kendras have been set up at court complexes to facilitate lawyers and litigants needing assistance ranging from  case  status,  getting  judgments/orders,    court/case  related  information  and  efiling facilities. Rs. 5.01 crore has been allocated for providing equipment in video conferencing cabins in various court complexes to facilitate virtual hearings. Rs. 12.12 crore has been allocated for 1,732 Help desk counters for efiling in various court complexes.

Twenty virtual courts have been set up in 16 States/UTs viz. Delhi (2), Haryana, Tamil  Nadu,  Karnataka,  Kerala  (2),  Maharashtra  (2),  Assam,  Chhattisgarh,  Jammu  & Kashmir  (2),  Uttar  Pradesh,  Odisha,  Meghalaya,  Himachal  Pradesh,  Madhya  Pradesh, Tripura  and  West  Bengal  to  try  traffic  offences.  As  on  03.03.2022,  these  courts  have handled more than 1.69 crore cases and realized more than Rs. 271.48 crore in fines.

Video  conferencing  emerged  as  the  mainstay  of  the  courts  during  the  Covid lockdown period as physical hearings and normal court proceedings in the congregational mode  were  not  possible. Since Covid  lockdown  started, the District courts heard 1,28,76,549  cases  while  the  High  Court  heard  63,76,561  cases  (totalling  1.92  crore)  till 30.04.2022 using video conferencing. The Supreme Court had 2,61,338 hearings since the lockdown period upto 13.06.2022.

- (iii) Filling up of vacant positions in Supreme Court, High Courts and District and Subordinate  Courts: From  01.05.2014  to  15.07.2022,  46  judges  were  appointed  in Supreme  Court.  769  new  judges  were  appointed  and  619  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 1,108 currently. 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             |
| 29.07.2022 | 24,631                | 19,288             |

However, 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. In the past, Minister of Law & Justice has taken up the matter with Chief Justices of High Courts and Chief Ministers  drawing their attention to cases pending for more than five years and to take up pendency reduction campaign. The Department  has  developed  an  online  portal  for  reporting  by  all  High  Courts  on  the compliance of Arrears Eradication Scheme guidelines of the Malimath Committee Report.

(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 form 32% to 42% to meet such requirements. As on 31.5.2022,  892 Fast Track Courts are functional for heinous crimes, crimes against women and children etc. To fast track criminal cases involving elected MPs / MLAs, ten (10) Special Courts are functional in nine (9) States/UTs (1 each in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and 2 in NCT of Delhi). 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'.  Rs.140  crore  was  released  in  the financial year 2019-20,Rs. 160 crore has been released during the financial year 2020-21

and Rs. 134.557 crore has been released during the financial year 2021-22 for the scheme. 728 FTSC are functional 408 exclusive POCSO Courts, which disposed 1,02,344 cases as on 30.6.2022.

(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.

(b) to (d): Every year, National Legal Services Authority issues calendar for the year for organizing National Lok Adalats.  As the National Lok Adalats are normally organised on any holiday once per quarter throughout the country.   The State Legal Services Authorities also organize State Lok Adalats Adalats at their own.

The State Legal Services Authorities have been issued guidelines/ directions by the NALSA  vide  National  Legal  Services  Authority  (Lok  Adalat)  Regulations,  2009  to organise more and more Lok Adalats so that pendency of cases could be reduced.

Before,  the  organization  of  National  Lok  Adalat,  NALSA  interact  with  Hon'ble Executive Chairpersons and Member Secretaries of all the State Leal Services Authorities to  take  a  stock  of  the  preparations  and  to  boost  the  morale  of  all  the  stakeholders.    The Legal  Services  Authorities  under  the  aegis  of  NALSA  organise  various  preparatory meetings with stakeholders and also publicise through the local media.

Using technological advancements and virtual platforms, Legal Services Authorities started  reaching  the  doorsteps  of  the  parties.    Resultantly,  parties  were  able  to  join preparatory  meetings  as  well  as  the  Lok  Adalat  proceedings  from  their  homes  or workplaces, saving them the hassles of travelling. The Authorities could thus witness that a large number of persons joined the virtual proceedings sitting hundreds of kilometres away from  their  physical  locations.    The  technology  was  thus  used  by  NALSA  for  evolving effective ways of supervision and monitoring of Lok Adalats.

A schedule for National Lok Adalat for the year 2022 is as under;

|   S. No. | Month    | Dates                |
|----------|----------|----------------------|
|        1 | March    | 12 th March, 2022    |
|        2 | May      | 14 th May, 2022      |
|        3 | August   | 13 th August, 2022   |
|        4 | November | 12 th November, 2022 |

Apart  from  this,  frequency  of  State  Lok  Adalats  are  determined  by  State  Legal Services Authorities as per local circumstance and needs.

The details of the cases disposed of in Lok Adalats during the last two years are as under:

## Disposal of National Lok Adalat

| Subject        | 2021        | 2022 (Upto June,22)   |
|----------------|-------------|-----------------------|
| Pre-litigation | 72,06,294   | 1,20,66,916           |
| Pending Cases  | 55,81,743   | 53,06,652             |
| Total          | 1,27,88,037 | 1,73,73,568           |

## Disposal of State Lok Adalats

| Subject        |   2021-22 |   2022-23 (upto June,22) |
|----------------|-----------|--------------------------|
| Pre-litigation |    114278 |                    41881 |
| Pending Cases  |    418251 |                   104286 |
| Total          |    532529 |                   146167 |