Lok Sabha Question No. 4886 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-31
Subject: Citizen Centric Services through e-Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Dr. T. Sumathy (a) Thamizhachi Thangapandian

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 4886

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 31 st MARCH, 2023

## Citizen Centric Services through e-Courts

## 4886. DR.T. SUMATHY (a) THAMIZHACHI THANGAPANDIAN:

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

- (a) the  details  of  the  total  outlay  in  Phase  I  &Phase  II  of  the  eCourts  Project  and  amount  released  and  utilized  since  2015, State-wise and year-wise;
- (b) the  details  of  benefits  accrued  to  the  common  man  in getting timely  justice  and  greater  access  through  e-Courts  in  the previous two phases; and
- (c) the  details  of  the  steps  taken  to  provide  efficient  and  time bound  access  of  citizen  centric  services  of  courts  to  litigants having no access to internet and facing digital divide?

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE

## ANSWER (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

- (a) :  With  the  objective  of  universal  computerisation  of  all  the  district  & subordinate court complexes, Department of Justice in close coordination with  eCommittee  of  Supreme  Court  of  India  is  implementing  e-Courts Mission Mode Project. Total outlay of e-Courts Phase-I (2011-15) was of Rs.935crore while the Government incurred an expenditure of Rs.639.41crore. e-Courts Phase- II of the project started in 2015with an outlay  of  Rs.1,670crore and the  Government has released a sum of Rs. 1,668.42 crore till 28.03.2022 to various implementing agencies involved in the implementation of the project. Details are as follows:

| S. No.   | Agency                                                   | Funds released (as on 31.03.2022)   |
|----------|----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| 1.       | High Courts                                              | Rs 1,164.37 Cr.                     |
| 2.       | NIC                                                      | Rs. 77.46 Cr.                       |
| 3.       | NICSI                                                    | Rs. 103.10 Cr.                      |
| 4.       | BSNL                                                     | Rs 293.68 Cr.                       |
| 5.       | eCommittee, SCI                                          | Rs 13.50 Cr.                        |
| 6.       | Other Miscellaneous Expenditure (Salary, publicity etc.) | Rs 16.31 Cr.                        |
|          | Total                                                    | Rs 1,668.42 Cr.                     |

- (b) : As part of the National eGovernance Plan, the e-Courts Mission Mode Project  is  under  implementation  for  ICT  enablement  of  the  Indian Judiciary based on the 'National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation  of  Information  and  Communication  Technology  in  the Indian  Judiciary'.  18,735  District  &  Subordinate  courts  have  been computerised  till  phase  II.  Following  are  the  initiatives  taken  during Phase-I  &  Phase-II  of  e-Courts  Project  resulting  in  timely  and  greater access to justice.
- i. Under the Wide Area Network (WAN) Project, connectivity has been provided  to  99.4%  (2976  out  of  earmarked  2994)  of  total  Court Complexes across India with 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps bandwidth speed. With internet connectivity, judicial services are now easily accessible to the common man.
- ii. 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). This provides greater transparency in

- the judicial system by making information on court cases available to the public through portals.
- iii. Case Information Software (CIS) based on customized Free and OpenSource Software (FOSS) has been developed.  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. This tool helps in smart scheduling of cases thereby enabling judicial officers to retain urgent cases and adjourn cases not urgent on cause list.
- 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  1.70  cr. downloads till 28 th February 2023) and JustIS app for judges (18,407 downloads till 31st December 2022). This helps to manage cases more effectively  reducing  delay  and  improving  the  overall  speed  of  the judicial process.
- v. The  India  emerged  as  a  global  leader  in  Video  Conferencing.  The High Courts (78,29,283 cases and Subordinate Courts 1,87,71,384 cases)  have  conducted  2.63  crore  virtual  hearings  till 28.02.2023.  The  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  of  India  held  4,02,937 hearings  through  video  conferencing  till  31.01.2023.  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. This enables litigants,  lawyers,  and  all  stakeholders  to  attend  proceedings  without

physical presence in courts. Thus, reducing costs associated with court proceedings,  such  as  travel expenses  for  witnesses,  judges,  and attorneys.

- vi. 21  Virtual  Courts  in  17  States/UTs  have  been  operationalized  to handle  traffic  challan  cases.  More  than  2.74  crore  cases  have  been handled  by  21  virtual  courts  and  in  more  than 35 lakhs  (35,20,799) cases online fine of more than Rs. 380 crores have been realized till 28.02.2023.  These  courts  have  enabled  litigants  to pay  their  fines or  contest  to  the  claims  online  (24X7).  Thus,  saving time and resources for both the court system and the litigants.
- 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  28.02.2023.  It  helps  user  by  eliminating  the need for physical visits to government agencies or courts, reducing the time and effort required to file documents. It reduces the risk of errors and inaccuracies in the filing process, as documents are automatically checked for completeness and correctness.
- 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  e-payments  in  their  respective  jurisdictions.  The  Court Fees Act has been amended in 21 High Courts till 28.02.2023.It helps litigants by eliminating the need to visit courts and reducing the time and effort required to make a payment
- ix. 714  eSewa  Kendras  have  been  rolled  out  with  the  intention  of facilitating  the  lawyer  or  litigant  who  needs  any  kind  of  assistance ranging from information to facilitation and eFiling. Citizens who do

not  have  access  to  technology  can  access  the  judicial  services  from eSewa Kendras, thus bridging the digital divide.

- x. 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.It provides  real  time  status  update  of  service  of  summons  besides tracking of geographical coordinates of the process server at the time of  serving.  Thereby  increasing  transparency  and  speed  of  delivery process.
- xi. 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  helps  the  users  with  easy accessibility of judgements based on a given keyword or combination of keywords
- 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.
4. (c) :  Government  of  India  has  released  fund  sunder  e-Courts  Phase-II  to establish eSewa Kendr as to bridge the digital divide. The eSewa Kendras are set up at the entry point of the court complexes with the intention of

facilitating  the  lawyer  or  litigant  who  needs  any  kind  of  assistance ranging  from  information  to  facilitation  and  e-filing.  e-Sewa  Kendras have  been  established  at  each  High  Court  and  one  District  and  Subordinate  Court Complex in each district while all  Court  Complexes are covered in North-Eastern States. As on 28.03.2023, 714 eSewa Kendras have been made functional under 25 High Courts. Rs. 12.12 crores have been allocated for creating 1732 Help Desk counters for e-Filing in Court Complexes. Judicial Service Centres have been established at all computerized courts to serve as a single window for filing petitions and applications by litigants / lawyers and for disseminating judicial information related to cause lists and other case related information to the lawyers and litigants through Info Kiosks. Mobile e-courts van equipped with Wi-Fi and computers for video conferencing for speedy disposal of cases have also been started in Uttarakhand and Telangana. In addition, Department of Justice has signed MoU with CSC e-Governance Services India Limited on 02.09.2022 to provide designated services through more than 4 lakh CSCs situated across India  thus further bridging the digital divide.

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