Lok Sabha Question No. 479 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-04
Subject: Virtual Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Veena Devi

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 479 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 4 th FEBRUARY 2022

## Virtual Courts

## 479. SHRIMATI VEENA DEVI:

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

- (a) whether the Government proposes to establish virtual courts in view of the positive effect seen in the virtual hearing by the courts during the corona period;
- (b)  the  number  of  service  centres  setup  for  the  e-courts  by  the Department of Justice presently, State/UT-wise; and
- (c) whether the Government has also organized any type of training and awareness campaigns regarding functioning of said e-courts and if so, the details thereof?

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

- (a): 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  1,08,36,087  cases  while  the  High  Court  heard  57,39,966 cases  (totalling  1.65  cr)  till  30.11.2021  using  video  conferencing  only.  The Supreme  Court  held  1,81,909  hearings  till  08.01.2022  since  the  beginning  of

lockdown period, making it the world leader in Video Conferencing hearings.One video conference equipment each has been provided to all Court Complexes  including  taluk  level  courts  and  additionally  funds  have  been sanctioned  for  additional  VC  equipment  for  14,443  court  rooms.  Funds  for setting  up  2506  VC  Cabins  have  been  made  available.  Additional  1500  VC Licenses have been acquired. VC facilities  are  already  enabled  between  3240 court complexes and corresponding 1272 jails. A sum of Rs. 7.60 crore has been released for procurement of 1732 Document Visualizers.

Virtual Courts is a concept, aimed at eliminating the presence of litigant or lawyer in the court and for adjudication of cases on a virtual platform. The concept has been evolved in order to efficiently utilize court resources and to provide litigants with an effective avenue to settle petty disputes.Virtual Court can  be  administered  by  a  Judge  over  a  virtual  electronic  platform  whose jurisdiction may  extend  to the entire State and function 24X7.  As  on 19.01.2022, 17 Virtual Courts have been set up in 13 States / UTs viz. Delhi (2), Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala (2), Maharashtra (2), Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir (2), Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh to try traffic  offences.  Over  1.20  crore  cases  (1,20,31,758) have been handled by 17 virtual courts and in more than 20 lakhs (20,40,003) cases  online  fine  of  more  than  Rs.  212  (212.01)  crore  has  been  realised  till 19.01.2022.However,  the  establishment  of  Virtual  Courtsis  an  administrative matter which falls strictly within the purview and domain of the judiciary and respective State Governments and Central Government has no role to play in the matter.

(b):Judicial  Service  Centres  (JSC)  have  been  established  to  serve  as  a  single window  for  filing  petitions  and  applications  by  litigants  /  lawyers,  and  for obtaining information on ongoing cases and copies of orders and judgments etc.

The State/UT-wise number of JSC setup for the e-courts are tabled below:

| S.No   | High Court                   |   Number of Judicial Service Centers |
|--------|------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| 1      | Allahabad                    |                                  100 |
| 2      | Telangana and Andhra Pradesh |                                  210 |
| 3      | Bombay                       |                                  419 |
| 4      | Calcutta                     |                                   84 |
| 5      | Chhattisgarh                 |                                   58 |
| 6      | Delhi                        |                                    6 |
| 7      | Gauhati                      |                                   46 |
| 8      | Gujarat                      |                                  216 |
| 9      | Himachal Pradesh             |                                   25 |
| 10     | Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh    |                                   33 |
| 11     | Jharkhand                    |                                   20 |
| 12     | Karnataka                    |                                  181 |
| 13     | Kerala                       |                                   46 |
| 14     | Madhya Pradesh               |                                  168 |
| 15     | Madras                       |                                  223 |
| 16     | Manipur                      |                                   13 |
| 17     | Meghalaya                    |                                    1 |
| 18     | Orissa                       |                                  110 |
| 19     | Patna                        |                                   46 |
| 20     | Punjab &Haryana              |                                  117 |
| 21     | Rajasthan                    |                                  232 |
| 22     | Sikkim                       |                                    4 |
| 23     | Tripura                      |                                   12 |
| 24     | Uttarakhand                  |                                   29 |
|        | Total                        |                                 2399 |

In addition, eSewa Kendras have been rolled out to bridge the digital divide by providing eFiling services to lawyers and litigants. Government has released Rs. 12.54  crore  for  setting  up  eSewa  Kendras.  As  on  31.12.2021,  451  eSewa Kendra's have been made functional in District Courts under 25 High Courts.

(c):  Training  programs  and  awareness  campaigns  have  been  conducted  from time  to  time  to  train  various  stakeholders  and  familiarise  them  with  court digitisation initiatives as follows:

-  Towards  creating  awareness  and  familiarization  of  e-Filing  amongst lawyers,  Webinars  on  e-Filing  for  Tamil  Nadu,  Goa,  Maharashtra  and Delhi Bar Council was organized during June 2020 which had more than 19,000 viewers.
-  A Manual on e-Filing entitled as 'Step by Step Guide for e-Filing' has been prepared and made available on the e-Filing portal, in both English and Hindi, for use of advocates and litigants.  It has also been released in 11 regional languages.
-  The e-Committee, Supreme Court of India has issued user manual for eCourts  Services  Mobile  Application  and  uploaded  it  on  the  official website of e-Committee in 14 languages namely English, Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Khasi, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu.
-  A Brochure in English and Hindi on 'How to register for e-Filing' has been made available on the e-Filing portal for the use of lawyers. It has also been released in 12 regional languages.
-  As part of awareness campaign, a YouTube Channel has been created in the name of eCourts Services where video tutorials on e-Filing have been made available for larger outreach to stakeholders.
-  12 self-help videos on e-Filing in 7 regional languages apart from Hindi and  English  was  prepared  and  circulated  for  the  advocates  as  part  of awareness raising programme. The said videos are available in the e filing portal  help  desk  and  also  in  the  social  media  through  the  eCommittee YouTube channel.
-  To  conduct  awareness  programme  for  advocates  on  eFiling  and  ECMT tools  under eCourt Services, training of trainers has already  been undertaken  by  eCommittee  of  the  Supreme  Court  at  the  National  and State level.

-  25  Master  Trainers  have  been  trained  in  each  High  Court  who  in  turn have  already  trained  5409  Master  Trainers  across  the  country.  These, 5409  Master  Trainers  have  in  turn  imparted  training  programme  on eCourt Services and eFiling in each district of the country for advocates in their regional languages and also identified Master Trainer Advocates.
-  Following trainings and awareness programmes on the ICT services  for different  stakeholders  have  been  conducted  by  the  eCommittee  of  the Supreme Court of India:

## Training & Awareness programs from May 2020 to December 2021

| Trainees                                               |   Numbers |
|--------------------------------------------------------|-----------|
| Advocates &Clerks                                      |    259881 |
| Advocate Master Trainers                               |      4050 |
| Court Staff                                            |     72134 |
| High Court Judges                                      |       259 |
| Judicial Officers (District Judiciary)                 |      1307 |
| NJDG Workshop                                          |      1443 |
| ICT Awareness Program for Judicial Officers and Staffs |     21202 |
| Law Students                                           |       675 |
| Cyber Crime (Master Trainers)                          |        42 |
| Total                                                  |    360993 |