Lok Sabha Question No. 251 (STARRED), answered on 2023-03-17
Subject: E-Courts Project
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Andimuthu Raja, A. Ganeshamurthi

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION No. *251

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 17 th MARCH, 2023

## E-Courts Project

## *251. SHRI A. RAJA:

## SHRI A. GANESHAMURTHI:

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

- (a) the status of e-courts project in various High Courts and subordinate courts in the country;
- (b) the  amount  allotted  for  the  infrastructure  development  of  e-courts during the last three years, year-wise and State-wise;
- (c) the number of courts that have started online court hearings having virtual appearance of lawyers and clients;
- (d) whether  any  training  programme  has  been  given  to  Chief  Justices and Judges of High Courts to familiarize them with the technology for conducting online hearings;
- (e) if so, the details thereof; and
- (f)
- if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE

(SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

(a) to (f): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *251 FOR 17 TH MARCH, 2023 REGARDING E-COURTS PROJECT

(a):The Government has launched the eCourts Integrated Mission Mode Project in  the  country  for  computerization of  District  and subordinate  courts  with the objective  of  improving  access  to  justice  using  technology.  As  part  of  the National eGovernance Plan, the project is under implementation since 2007 for ICT  development  of  the  Indian  Judiciary  based  on  the  'National  Policy  and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology in the Indian Judiciary'. eCourts project is being implemented in association  with  e-Committee  Supreme  Court  of  India  and  Department  of Justice. Phase I of the project was implemented during 2011-2015. Phase II of the  project  started  in  2015  under  which  18,735  District  &  Subordinate  courts have been computerised so far.

Towards enhancement of ICT enablement of Courts, following initiatives have been taken under eCourts project by the eCommittee of the Supreme Court and the Department of Justice:

- i. Under  the  Wide  Area  Network  (WAN)  Project,  2976  court  sites  have been commissioned with 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps bandwidth speed.
- ii. Case Information Software (CIS) which forms the basis for the e-Court services is based on customized Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) which has been developed by NIC. Currently CIS National Core Version 3.2 is being implemented in District Courts and the CIS National Core Version 1.0 is being implemented for the High Courts.
- iii. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) is a database of orders, judgments, and  cases,  created  as  an  online  platform  under  the  eCourts  Project.  It provides  information  relating  to  judicial  proceedings/decisions  of  all computerized  district  and  subordinate  courts  of  the  country.  Litigants

can access case status information in respect of over  22.38 crore cases and more than 20.83 crore orders / judgments (as on 01.03.2023). Open APIs  have been introduced in 2020  to allow Central and State Governments and institutional litigants including local bodies to access NJDG data to improve pendency monitoring and compliance.

- iv. As part of eCourts project, 7 platforms have been created to provide real time information on case status, cause lists, judgements etc. to lawyers/Litigants  through  SMS  Push  and  Pull  (2,00,000  SMS  sent daily),  Email  (2,50,000  sent  daily),  multilingual  and  tactile  eCourts services Portal  (35  lakh  hits  daily),  JSC  (Judicial  Service  centres)  and Info Kiosks.  In addition, Electronic Case Management Tools (ECMT) have been created with Mobile  App  for lawyers (total 1.64 cr. downloads  till  31 st January  2023)  and  JustIS  app  for  judges  (18,407 downloads till 31 st December 2022). JustIS mobile app is now available in iOS as well.
- v. 21 Virtual Courts in 17 States/UTs have been operationalized to handle traffic challan cases. More than 2.40 crore cases have been handled by 21 virtual courts and in more than 33 lakhs (33,57,972) cases online fine of more than Rs. 359.34 crore has been realised till 31.01.2023.
- vi. The Supreme Court of India emerged as a global leader by conducting 4,02,937 hearings  (till 31.01.2023  since  the  beginning  of  lockdown period).  The  High  Courts  (77,67,596 cases  and  Subordinate  Courts 1,84,95,235 cases) have conducted  2.63 crore virtual hearings till 24.12.2022.  VC  facilities  have  also  been  enabled  between  3240  court complexes and corresponding 1272 jails. Funds for 2506 VC cabins and VC equipment for 14,443 courtrooms have also been released. 1500 VC licenses have been procured to promote virtual hearings. A sum of Rs. 7.60  crore  has  been  released  for  procurement  of  1732  Document Visualizers.

- vii. New e-filing system (version 3.0) has been rolled out for the electronic filing  of  legal  papers  with  upgraded  features.  Draft eFiling rules  have been formulated and circulated to the High Courts for adoption. A total of  19  High  Courts  have  adopted  the  model  rules  of  e-Filing  as  on 31.01.2023. Additionally, under the jurisdiction of 25 High Courts, 19 District Courts have adopted the model  rules of e-Filing as on 31.01.2023
- viii. e-Filing  of  cases  requires  the  option  for  electronic  payment  of  fees which includes court fees, fines and penalties which are directly payable to the Consolidated Fund. A total of 20 High Courts have implemented ePayments in their respective jurisdictions. The Court Fees Act has been amended in 21 High Courts till 31.12.2022.
- ix. National  Service  and  Tracking  of  Electronic  Processes  (NSTEP)  has been  launched  for  technology  enabled  process  serving  and  issuing  of summons. It has currently been implemented in 28 States/ UTs.
- x. A new 'Judgment Search' portal has been started with features such as search by Bench, Case Type, Case Number, Year, Petitioner/ Respondent Name, Judge Name, Act, Section, Decision: From Date, To Date and Full Text Search. This facility is being provided free of cost to all.
- xi. To  make  effective  use  of  database  created  through  National  Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) and to make the information available to public 39 LED Display Message Sign Board System called Justice Clocks, have been installed in 25 High Courts.
- xii. Towards creating  widespread  awareness  and  familiarization  of  eFiling and eCourts services and to address 'skill divide', a manual on eFiling and  a  Brochure  on  'How  to  register  for  eFiling'  has  been  made available in English, Hindi and 11 regional languages for the use of the lawyers.  A  YouTube  channel  has  been  created  in  the  name  of  the  e Court services with video tutorials  on eFiling.  The  eCommittee  of  the

Supreme Court of India has conducted trainings and awareness programmes  on  the  ICT  services.  These  programmes  have  covered nearly  5,13,080  stakeholders,  including  High  Court  Judges,  Judges  of the District Judiciary, Court Staff, Master Trainers among Judges/DSA, Technical Staff of High Courts, and Advocates.

The  phase  II  of  the  project  is  nearing  its  completion  and  DPR  for  e-Courts Phase III  has  been  finalized  and  approved  by  eCommittee,  Supreme  Court  of India on 21 st October 2022. The meeting of the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) Meeting was held on 23.02.2023. Other, requisite approvals of eCourts Project  Phase-III  are  at  advance  stage.   Phase  III  of  the  project  envisions facilitation of various new features, few of which are the digital initiatives that encompass  Digital  and  Paperless  Courts  that  aim  to  bring court  proceedings under  a  digital  format  in  a  court;  Online  Court  that  focus  on  eliminating  the presence of litigants or lawyers in the court through exploration and adoption of different  forms  of  digitally  enabled  hearings;  expansion  of  scope  of  Virtual Courts beyond adjudication of Traffic Violations ; use of emerging technologies like  Artificial  Intelligence  and  its  subsets  like  Optical  Character  Recognition (OCR) etc for analysis of case pendency, forecasting future litigation, etc.

(b): Funds released during the last three years for infrastructure development of e-Courts are given in Annexure-I.

(c):    The  details  of  courts  where  virtual  hearing  is  taking  place  is  given  in Annexure-II.

(d): Yes Sir, training programmes were organised for Judges of High Court to familiarize them with the technology for conducting online hearings.

(e)&  (f):Trainings  ofHigh  Court  Judges  isconducted  by  the  National  Judicial Academy;  Bhopal.  The  details  of  academic  programmes  that  were  conducted for High Court judges are as follows:

|   S/N | Prog. No.   | Programme Name                                                                                                                                       | Prog. Date     |   No. of Participants |
|-------|-------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------|-----------------------|
|     1 | P-1276      | Workshop for High Court Justices on ICT enablement of Indian Judiciary through E- Courts Project and the evolving concept of Artificial Intelligence | 08& 09/01/2022 |                    24 |
|     2 | P-1300      | Master Trainer Programme for High Court Judges (e- committee)                                                                                        | 21/08/2022     |                    25 |
|     3 | P-1313      | e-committee National Conference (e- committee)                                                                                                       | 06/11/2022     |                    31 |
|     4 | P-1334      | Ecourts Introductory Programme & Computer Skills Enhancement Programme - Level I &II (e-committee)                                                   | 05/03/2023     |                    31 |

In  addition  to  the  above  exclusive  programmes  on  e-Courts,  two  sessions  are fully  dedicated  on  e-Courts  in  each  of  the  Regional  Conferences  being organized  by  the  National  Judicial  Academy  for  the  current  academic  year 2022-23. During the current academic year i.e; 2022-23, NJA has scheduled 8 Regional Conferences, of which, 5 programmes have been conducted so far in which  the  total  number  of  participants  was  625  (which  includes  High  Court Justices and Judicial Officers).

****

## Annexure-I

Statement referred to in  reply  of  Lok  Sabha  Question  No.*251  for  17/03/2023 regarding  e-Courts  project.  The  funds  released  during  the  last  three  years  for infrastructure development are:

| S.No.   | High Courts                 |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |   2021-22 |
|---------|-----------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1       | Allahabad                   |     15.04 |     13.79 |      0    |
| 2       | Andhra Pradesh              |      0    |      1.96 |      0    |
| 3       | Bombay                      |      0    |      8.86 |      0    |
| 4       | Calcutta                    |      0    |      4.93 |      0    |
| 5       | Chhattisgarh                |      4.44 |      2.34 |      0    |
| 6       | Delhi                       |      0    |      3    |      0    |
| 7 (a)   | Gauhati (Arunachal Pradesh) |      0.98 |      1.52 |      1.26 |
| 7 (b)   | Gauhati (Assam)             |     13.68 |      6.11 |      3.49 |
| 7 (c)   | Gauhati (Mizoram)           |      0.51 |      0.72 |      0.3  |
| 7 (d)   | Gauhati (Nagaland)          |      0.7  |      0.83 |      0.84 |
| 8       | Gujarat*                    |      0    |      3.48 |      0    |
| 9       | Himachal Pradesh            |      0    |      2    |      0    |
| 10      | Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh   |      0    |      1    |      0    |
| 11      | Jharkhand                   |      5.53 |      2.98 |      0    |
| 12      | Karnataka                   |      9.15 |      4.29 |      0    |
| 13      | Kerala                      |      0    |      2.83 |      1.58 |
| 14      | Madhya Pradesh              |     11.21 |      6.28 |      0    |
| 15      | Madras                      |      0    |      4.73 |      0    |
| 16      | Manipur                     |      0.61 |      1.3  |      0.76 |
| 17      | Meghalaya                   |      0.92 |      2.32 |      2.23 |
| 18      | Orissa                      |     13.46 |      3.37 |      0    |
| 19      | Patna                       |      7.08 |      5.44 |      0    |
| 20      | Punjab &Haryana             |      0    |      4.55 |      0    |
| 21      | Rajasthan                   |      1.29 |     10.58 |      1.62 |
| 22      | Sikkim                      |      1.61 |      1.01 |      0.77 |
| 23      | Telangana                   |      0    |      1.79 |      0    |
| 24      | Tripura                     |      2.24 |      4.44 |      0.95 |
| 25      | Uttarakhand                 |      0    |      1.28 |      0    |
| Total   | Total                       |     88.44 |    107.74 |     13.8  |

## Annexure-II

Statement referred to in  reply  of  Lok  Sabha  Question  No.*251  for  17/03/2023 regarding e-Courts project. Details of courts where virtual hearing is taking place along with details of cases heard through virtual hearings as on 31 January 2023 are:

Details of courts where virtual hearing is taking place along with details of cases heard through virtual hearings as on 31 January 2023

|   S. No. | High Court                  |   No. of hearings in High Courts |   No. of hearings in District Courts |   Total Hearings |
|----------|-----------------------------|----------------------------------|--------------------------------------|------------------|
|        1 | Allahabad                   |                           241390 |                              4114257 |          4355647 |
|        2 | Andhra Pradesh              |                           380252 |                              1412770 |          1793022 |
|        3 | Bombay                      |                            38305 |                                80818 |           119123 |
|        4 | Calcutta                    |                           139053 |                                81940 |           220993 |
|        5 | Chhattisgarh                |                           103097 |                                43160 |           146257 |
|        6 | Delhi                       |                           317729 |                              4502342 |          4820071 |
|        7 | Gauhati - Arunachal Pradesh |                             2292 |                                 8128 |            10420 |
|        8 | Gauhati - Assam             |                           266160 |                               333777 |           599937 |
|        9 | Gauhati - Mizoram           |                             3963 |                                13268 |            17231 |
|       10 | Gauhati - Nagaland          |                              930 |                                  650 |             1580 |
|       11 | Gujarat                     |                           388929 |                               192808 |           581737 |
|       12 | Himachal Pradesh            |                           183904 |                               100200 |           284104 |
|       13 | Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh   |                           257708 |                               458532 |           716240 |
|       14 | Jharkhand                   |                           218343 |                               641727 |           860070 |
|       15 | Karnataka                   |                          1170814 |                               123066 |          1293880 |
|       16 | Kerala                      |                           160411 |                               541229 |           701640 |
|       17 | Madhya Pradesh              |                           668369 |                               782248 |          1450617 |
|       18 | Madras                      |                          1424427 |                               347900 |          1772327 |
|       19 | Manipur                     |                            38695 |                                15288 |            53983 |
|       20 | Meghalaya                   |                             2859 |                                27554 |            30413 |

| 21    | Orissa          |   288674 |   247949 |   536623 |
|-------|-----------------|----------|----------|----------|
| 22    | Patna           |   275754 |  2116523 |  2392277 |
| 23    | Punjab &Haryana |   581047 |  1873547 |  2454594 |
| 24    | Rajasthan       |   229688 |   179006 |   408694 |
| 25    | Sikkim          |      482 |    12227 |    12709 |
| 26    | Telangana       |   299031 |   190327 |   489358 |
| 27    | Tripura         |    10585 |    12564 |    23149 |
| 28    | Uttarakhand     |    74705 |    41430 |   116135 |
| Total | Total           |  7767596 | 18495235 | 26262831 |