Lok Sabha Question No. 1475 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-10
Subject: Justice through Digital System in Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Mohanbhai Kalyanji Kundariya, Anil Firojiya

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. †1475 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 10 th  FEBRUARY, 2023

## Justice through Digital System in Courts

## †1475.  SHRI MOHANBHAI KALYANJI KUNDARIYA:

## SHRI ANIL FIROJIYA:

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

- (a) the details of benefits accrued/likely to accrue to the common man in getting timely justice through digital system/technique; and
- (b) the courts in the country including Madhya Pradesh where Additional Solicitor General of India are proposed to be appointed along with the  functions they have to perform?

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

(a): The  eCourts  project  is  being  implemented  under  the  joint  partnership  of Department  of  Justice,  Ministry  of  Law  &  Justice,  Government  of  India  and eCommittee,  Supreme  Court  of  India,  in  a  decentralized  manner  through  the respective High Courts. 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'. Its vision is to transform the judicial system of the country by ICT enablement of courts and  to  enhance  the  judicial  productivity,  both  qualitatively  &  quantitatively,

making the justice delivery system accessible, cost effective, reliable, transparent and provide the common man with timely justice, using the digital system/technique.

The Phase-I (2011-2015) implementation started with a total expenditure of Rs. 639.41 crore. Phase I focused on the nuts and bolts of digitisation - setting up  hardware, ensuring internet connectivity, digitising case records, and operationalising the e-Courts platform.

The Phase II of the project started in 2015 with an outlay of Rs. 1670 crores focused on ICT facilitation of judicial services to citizens. Total 18,735 District & Subordinate courts have been computerized till this phase. Phase II focused on providing citizen centric services to litigants and lawyers,including development  of  an  end-to  end  digitisation  system  (such  as  Case  Information System),  portals  that  enable  people  to  access  information  about  pendency  of cases (National Judicial Data Grid) and systems for digital filing and payments (e-filing  and  e-payments),  which  revolutionised  the  way  public  accessed  the services provided by the judiciary.

In the eCourts Project theGovernment has taken the following initiatives to 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  22.09 crore cases and more than 20.43 crore orders / judgments (as on 02.02.2023).

- iii. 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 1.59 cr. downloads till 31 st December 2022) and JustIS app for judges (18,407 downloads till 31 st December 2022).
- iv. 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 32 lakhs (32,62,303) cases online fine of more than Rs. 347.86 crore has been realized till 02.01.2023.
- v. The Supreme Court of India emerged as a global leader by conducting 3,79,954 hearings  (till 24.12.2022  since  the  beginning  of  lockdown period).  The  High  Courts  (77,01,697 cases)  and  Subordinate  Courts (1,82,20,040 cases)  have  conducted  2.59  crore  virtual  hearings  till 31.12.2022.
- vi. 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 31.12.2022.
- vii. 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.

- viii. 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.
- 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.

(b): As per the current positionthere are 11 posts of Additional Solicitor General before the Supreme Court of India. Also, there are 12 posts of Additional Solicitor General for the various High Courts in the country. For the rest of the High Courts including  High  Court  of  Madhya  Pradesh,  creation  of  13  additional  posts  of Additional Solicitor General is under the consideration of the Government.

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