Lok Sabha Question No. 4000 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-24
Subject: Security of Judicial Digitisation Process
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Dayanidhi Maran, Francisco Cosme Sardinha

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 4000 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 24 th MARCH, 2023

## Security of Judicial Digitisation Process

## 4000. SHRI DAYANIDHI MARAN: SHRI COSME FRANCISCO CAITANOSARDINHA:

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

- (a) the  steps  taken/being  taken to  digitize thejudicial process  and ensure data and cyber securityduring digitization processes in the judiciary;
- (b) the steps taken by the Government to improvethe situation of Courts in dealing with cases after theCovid-restrictions/Covidshock;
- (c) whether the Government has considered thechallenges and the opportunities  the  online-environmentprovides  with  regards  to the pendency of cases;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the performance of online-hearings that hasbeen realized in the country; and.
- (f) whether any steps or proposals are beingconsidered to increase the strength of the judiciaryand process cases faster and if so, the detailsthereof?

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

(a) to (e):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 enablement 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 and 18,735 District & Subordinate courts have been computerised  till  phase  II.TheGovernment  has  taken  the  following  digital initiatives under eCourtsProjectto make justice accessible and available for all: -

- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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  31st  January  2023)  and  JustIS  app  for  judges  (18,407

downloads till 31st December 2022). JustIS mobile app is now available in iOS as well.

- v. The India emerged as a global leader in Video Conferencing.The High Courts (77,67,596 cases and Subordinate Courts 1,84,95,235 cases) have conducted  2.63  crore  virtual  hearings  till  31.01.2023.  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.
- vi. 21 Virtual Courts in 17 States/UTs have been operationalized to handle traffic challan cases. More than 2.53 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 realized till 31.01.2023.
- 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.
- 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 22 High Courts till 31.12.2022.
- ix. To bridge the digital divide, 689 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.

- 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.
- 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 facility is being provided free of cost to all.
- 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 Supreme Court in its decision in Justice K S Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India has held that right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms governed by  Part  III  of  the  Constitution.  To  balance  the  right  of  privacy,  right  to information and data security, a Sub-Committee consisting of six judges of the High  Courts,  assisted  by  technical  working  group  members  consisting  of domain experts, has been constituted by the Chairperson of the e-Committee to suggest/recommend secure connectivity and authentication mechanisms for data protection to preserve the right to privacy. The Sub-Committee is mandated to critically  assess  and  examine  the  digital  infrastructure,  network  and  service

delivery  solutions  created  under  the  e-  Courts  project  forgiving  solutions  for strengthening data security and for protecting the privacy of citizens.

During the COVID period, a COVID-19 Management Patch was developed in the CIS to help in smart scheduling of cases thereby enabling judicial officers to retain  urgent  cases  and  adjourn  cases  not  urgent  on  cause  list.In  addition  to above  initiativesthe  Department  of  Justice  along  with  eCommittee,  Supreme Court of India have emphasisedtheutilization of the initiativesundertaken under eCourts  Project  to  improve  the  situation  of  Courts  in  dealing  with  cases  post Covid.

Virtual hearing has served a significant purpose of ensuring access to justice. Though  there  are  some  of  the  challenges  pertaining  to  virtual  hearing but following benefits accrued outweigh the challenges:

-  The lawyers and litigants can appear before the court from any location (far-flung areas as well) of their choice.
-  There is considerable saving of time and money thus helping under privileged litigants
-  The lawyers can attend hearings at multiple locations at short notice.
-  Production of witnesses becomes easy as they can be at their own safe locations.
-  Movement of under trial prisoners can be done very economically and conveniently.

Thus online hearing leads to faster adjudication of cases thereby reducing pendency of cases.

(f): In so far as the steps/proposal for increasing the strength of the judiciary is concerned,  The  Union  Government  does  not  have  any  role  in  the  selection, appointment  and/or  increase  in  strength  of  judicial  officers  in  District  and Subordinate judiciary. In so far as recruitment of judicial officers in the States is

concerned,  respective  High  Courts  do  it  in  certain  States,  whereas  the  High Courts do it in consultation with the State Public Service Commissions in other States.    As  provided  under  proviso  to  Article  309  read  with  Articles  233  and 234 of the Constitution which empowers the respective State Government, in consultation with the High Court, to frames the Rules and Regulations regarding the issue of increase in strength and/or appointment of Judicial Officers in the State Judicial Service.

Regarding  the  steps/proposals  for  processing  of  cases  faster,  the  disposal  of cases lies exclusively within the domain  of the judiciary. The  Central Government  has  no  direct  role  in  the  matter.  However,  the  Government  has taken several initiatives to provide suitable environment for timely disposal of cases by the judiciary, as follows:

- i. Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Judicial Infrastructure, funds are being released to States/UTs for construction of court halls, residential quarters for judicial officers, lawyers' halls, toilet complexes and  digital  computer  rooms  that  would  provide  infrastructure  aimed  to ease  the  work  of  lawyers  and  litigants  and  aid  justice  delivery.  As  on date,  Rs.  9755.51  crores  have  been  released  since  the  inception  of  the Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  (CSS)  for  Development  of  Infrastructure Facilities  for  the  Judiciary  in  1993-94.  The  number  of  court  halls  has increased from 15,818 as on 30.06.2014 to 21,271 as on 28.02.2023, and number of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 18,734 as on 28.02.2023, under this scheme.
- ii. Further  under  the  e-Courts  Mission  Mode  Project,  information  and communication technology (ICT) has been leveraged for IT enablement of district and subordinate courts. The number of computerised district & subordinate courts has increased to 18,735 so far. WAN connectivity has been provided to 99.4% of court complexes.  Video conferencing facility has been enabled between 3,240 court complexes and 1,272

corresponding  jails.  689  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. 21 virtual courts have been set up in 17 States/UTs. As on 31.01.2023, these courts have handled more than 2.53 crore cases and realized more than Rs. 359 crores in fines. E-courts Phase III is about to begin which intends to incorporate latest technology such Artificial Intelligence(AI) and Block chain to make justice delivery more robust, easy and accessible to all the stakeholders.

- iii. Government  has  been  regularly  filling  up  the  vacancies  in  higher judiciary. From 01.07.2014 to 21.03.2023, 54 Judges were appointed in Supreme  Court.  887  new  Judges  were  appointed  and  646  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 1114 currently. sanctioned and working strength of judicial officers in district and subordinate courts has increased as follow:

| As on      | Sanctioned Strength   | Working Strength   |
|------------|-----------------------|--------------------|
| 31.12.2013 | 19,518                | 15,115             |
| 20.03.2023 | 25,189                | 19,522             |

However, filling up of vacancies in subordinate judiciary falls within the domain of the State Governments and high courts concerned.

- iv. In pursuance of a Resolution passed in Chief Justices' Conference held in April, 2015, Arrears Committees have been set up in all 25 High Courts to clear cases pending for more than five years.  Arrears Committees have been set up under District courts as well.
- v. Under the aegis of the Fourteenth Finance Commission ,the government has  established  Fast  Track  Courts  for  dealing  with  cases  of  heinous crimes;  cases  involving  senior  citizens,  women,  children  etc.  As  on 31.01.2023,  843  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.  Further,  the  central  government  has  approved  a scheme for setting up 1023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) across the country for the expeditious disposal of pending cases of Rape under IPC and crimes under POCSO Act. As on date, 28 States/UTs have joined the scheme.

- vi. With  a  view  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.
- vii. Alternate Dispute Resolution methods have been promoted wholehearetedly.  Accordingly,  the  Commercial  Courts  Act,  2015  was amended  on  20 th August,  2018  making  Pre-institution  Mediation  and Settlement (PIMS) mandatory in case 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.
- viii. Lok Adalat is an important Alternative Disputes Resolution Mechanism available  to  common  people.  It  is  a  forum  where  the  disputes/  cases pending  in  the court of  law  or at pre-litigation stage are settled/ compromised  amicably.   Under  the  Legal  Services  Authorities  (LSA) Act, 1987, an award made by a Lok Adalat is deemed to be a decree of a civil  court  and  is  final  and  binding  on  all  parties  and  no  appeal  lies against  thereto  before  any  court. .   Lok  Adalat  is  not  a  permanent establishment.  National Lok Adalats are organized simultaneously in all Taluks, Districts and High Courts on a pre-fixed date. The details of the case disposed off in Lok Adalats during the last three years are as under:-

| Years           | Pre-litigation Cases   | Pending Cases   | Grand Total   |
|-----------------|------------------------|-----------------|---------------|
| 2021            | 72,06,294              | 55,81,743       | 1,27,88,037   |
| 2022            | 3,10,15,215            | 1,09,10,795     | 4,19,26,010   |
| 2023 (till Feb) | 1,75,98,095            | 30,25,724       | 2,06,23,819   |
| Total           | 5,58,19,604            | 1,95,18,262     | 7,53,37,866   |

- ix. The  Government  launched  the  Tele-Law  programme  in  2017,  which provided  an  effective  and  reliable  e-interface  platform  connecting  the needy and disadvantaged sections seeking legal advice and consultation with panel lawyers via video conferencing, telephone and chat facilities available  at  the  Common  Service  Centres  (CSCs)  situated  in  Gram Panchayat and through Tele-Law mobile App.
- x. Efforts have been made to institutionalize pro bono culture and pro bono lawyering the country. A technological framework has been put in place where advocates volunteering to give their time and services for pro bono work can register as Pro Bono Advocates on Nyaya Bandhu (Android & iOS  and  Apps).  Nyaya  Bandhu  Services  also  available  on  UMANG Platform.  Pro  Bono  Panel  of  advocates  have  been  initiated  in  21  High

*Percentage Wise break-up of Tele - Law Data

| Till 28 th Feb, 2023   | Cases Registered    | %Wise Break Up      | Advice Enabled      | %Wise Break Up      |
|------------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
| Gender Wise            | Gender Wise         | Gender Wise         | Gender Wise         | Gender Wise         |
| Female                 | 11,46,046           | 33.43               | 11,23,504           | 33.49               |
| Male                   | 22,82,642           | 66.57               | 22,31,041           | 66.51               |
| Caste Category Wise    | Caste Category Wise | Caste Category Wise | Caste Category Wise | Caste Category Wise |
| General                | 7,31,346            | 21.33               | 7,12,646            | 21.24               |
| OBC                    | 10,08,050           | 29.40               | 9,83,336            | 29.31               |
| SC                     | 10,86,611           | 31.69               | 10,66,037           | 31.78               |
| ST                     | 6,02,681            | 17.58               | 5,92,526            | 17.66               |
| Total                  | 34,28,688           |                     | 33,54,545           |                     |

Courts at the State level. Pro Bono Clubs have been started in 69 select Laws Schools to instil Pro Bono culture in budding lawyers.

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