Lok Sabha Question No. 1498 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-10
Subject: Division Benches of Supreme Court
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Kuruva Gorantla Madhav

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1498

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 10.02.2023

## Division Benches of Supreme Court

## 1498. SHRI KURUVA GORANTLA MADHAV:

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

- (a) whether the Government intends to implement 229 th Report of the Law Commission of India which has recommended the division of the Supreme  Court into a Constitution Bench at  Delhi  and  Cassation  Benches  in  four  regions  at  Delhi,  Chennai/Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (d) the details of other proposed measures to be taken by the Government to make justice accessible and available for all?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (d): Article 130 of the Constitution of India provides that the Supreme Court shall sit in Delhi or in such other place or places as the Chief Justice of India may, with the approval of the President, from time to time, appoint.

The  Eighteenth  Law  Commission  in  its  229 th Report  had  also suggested  that a Constitutional Bench be set up at Delhi and four Cassation Benches be set up in the Northern region at Delhi, Southern region at Chennai/Hyderabad, Eastern region at Kolkata and Western region at Mumbai.

The  matter  was  referred  to  the  Chief  Justice  of India,  who  informed  that  after consideration of the matter, the Full Court in its meeting held on 18 th February, 2010, found no justification for setting up of Benches of the Supreme Court outside Delhi.

In Writ Petition WP(C) No. 36/2016 on establishment of National Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court vide its judgment dated 13.07.2016 deemed it proper to refer the aforementioned issue to Constitutional Bench for authoritative pronouncement. The matter is sub-judice in the Supreme Court.

To make justice accessible and available for all, the Government, in consultation with the Supreme  Court,  has  been  implementing  e-Courts  Mission  Mode  Project,  under  which  the following initiatives have been implemented:-

- 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 31stDecember 2022) and JustIS app for judges (18,407 downloads till 31st 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.

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