Lok Sabha Question No. 332 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-03
Subject: FTSCs and Gram Nyayalayas
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Aparajita Sarangi

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 332

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 03 rd  FEBRUARY, 2021

## FTSCs AND GRAM NYAYALAYAS

## 332. SHRIMATI APARAJITA SARANGI:

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

- (a)  whether  the  pendency  of  cases  in  various  Courts  across  India  have increased post lockdown from 25 March 2020;
- (b) if so, the action taken thereon to reduce pendency;
- (c)  the  number  of  Fast  Track  Special  Courts  (FTSCs)  set  up  in  Odisha  to expedite resolution of rape cases;
- (d) whether the FTSCs have recorded high pendency;
- (e) if so, the action taken thereon;
- (f)  the  number  of  Gram  Nyayalayas  established and  currently  functional at panchayat level in Odisha;
- (g) whether there have been any factors hindering the efficient functioning of the Gram Nyayalayas; and
- (h) if so, the details thereof and the action taken thereon?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE, COMMUNICATIONS AND

## ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a) & (b): After announcement of nation-wide lockdown from 25 th March, 2020, directions have been issued from time to time by the respective High Courts to the Subordinate  Courts  under  their  administrative  jurisdiction  for  hearing  of  urgent civil  and  criminal  matters  in  virtual  or  physical  mode  depending  on  local conditions. Most High Courts have further advised district and subordinate courts

that  they  may,  as  far  as  possible,  resume  normal  functioning  by  virtual/physical mode.  Wherever physical hearing  has been  permitted in district  and  subordinate courts,  they  have  been  advised  to  strictly  adhere  to  Covid  protocols  and  social distancing norms. A new Software Patch and Court User Manual has been recently developed for COVID- 19 Management. This tool has been developed to help in smart scheduling all cases to effectively manage overcrowding in courts.

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 45,73,159 cases while the High Court heard 20,60,318 cases (totalling to 66.33 lakh) till 31.12.2020 using video conferencing only. The Supreme Court had nearly 32,000 hearings during the lockdown period.

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 coordinated  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  five  years  under  various initiatives are as follows:

- (i) Improving  infrastructure  for  Judicial  Officers  of  District  and  Subordinate Courts: As on date, Rs. 8,288.30 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  20,062  as  on  28.01.2021  and  number  of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to  17,736 as on 28.01.2021  under  this  scheme.  In  addition,  2,808  court  halls  and  1,843 residential units are under construction.
- (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  from  13,672  (in 2014) to 18,735 as on 28.01.2021, registering an increase of 5,063.  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 01.01.2021, litigants  can  access  case  status  of  over  17.90  crore  cases  and  13.36  crore order/judgements 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 3240 court complexes and 1272 corresponding jails. With a view to handle the COVID- 19 challenges better and to make the transition to virtual hearings smoother, funds have been provided for setting up 235 e-SewaKendras at court complexes to facilitate lawyers and litigants needing assistance ranging

from case status, getting judgements/orders,  court/case related information and efiling facilities. Rs. 5.01 crores has been allocated for providing equipment in Video  Conferencing  cabins  in  various  court  complexes  to  facilitate  virtual hearings. Rs. 12.12 crores has been allocated for 1732 Help desk counters for efiling in various court complexes.

Nine Virtual Courts have been set up at Delhi (2 courts), Faridabad (Haryana), Pune &  Nagpur (Maharashtra) Kochi (Kerala), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Guwahati  (Assam)  and  Bengaluru  (Karnataka)  to  try  traffic  offences.  As  on 20.01.2021, these courts have handled 41,98,095 cases and realised Rs.139.25cr in fines.

- (iii) Filling up of vacant positions in Supreme Court, High Courts and District and Subordinate Courts: From 01.05.2014 to 25.01.2021, 35 Judges were appointed in Supreme Court. 570 new Judges were appointed and 520 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  1080  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             |
| 28.01.2021 | 24,247                | 19,318             |

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.
- (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 18.01.2021, Fast Track Courts are functional for heinous crimes, crimes against women and children, family and metrimonial disputes, 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)  and  proportionate  funds  have been  released  to  these  States  by  the  Government.  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  823  FTSCs  including    'exclusive  POCSO  Courts'. Rs.140 crore was released in the financial year 2019-20 and Rs. 89.89 crore has been released during the financial year 2020-21 for the scheme. Presently 609 FTSCs are functional including 331 exclusive POCSO Courts.
- (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.
- (c) to (e): Currently, 15  FTSCs are operational in Odisha, which are exclusive POCSO Courts  for expeditious resolution of cases related to POCSO Act. These FTSCs have disposed of 240 POCSO cases and 6119 cases are pending as on 31.12.2020.  An  online  monitoring  framework  has  been  devised  for  regular monitoring of case disposal statistics.

(f) to (h):  As  per  the  information  made  available  by  the  High  Court/State Government 22 Gram Nyayalayas have been notified by the State of Odisha out of which 16 Gram Nyayalayas are operational.

Some  of  the  challenges  related  to  the  efficient  functioning  of  the  Gram Nyayalayas  are  overlapping  jurisdiction  of  Gram  Nyayalayas  with  regular courts, shortage of First Class Magistrates to man the Gram Nyayalayas, need for creation of a cadre of Gram Nyayadhikaries and their training, need to widen the jurisdiction of Gram Nyayalayas, creating awareness amongst stakeholders and also setting up mobile courts.

The issues affecting operationalization of the Gram  Nyayalayas were discussed  in  the  Conference  of  Chief  Justices  of  High  Courts  and  Chief Ministers of the States on 7th April, 2013. It was decided in the Conference that the State Governments and High Courts should decide the question of setting up of Gram Nyayalayas wherever feasible, taking into account their local problems. The Department of Justice is continuously monitoring and evaluating the issues relating to the establishment and functioning of the Gram Nyayalayas. Periodic meetings  via  Video  Conferencing  is  done  with  the  State  functionaries  and Registrar Generals of the High Courts for redressal of various issues.

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