Lok Sabha Question No. 5034 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-31
Subject: Modernisation of District Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Jagannath Sarkar, Sudarshan Bhagat, Naba (Hira) Kumar Sarania

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 5034 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 31 th MARCH, 2023

## Modernisation of District Courts

## 5034.  SHRI JAGANNATH SARKAR: SHRI SUDARSHAN BHAGAT: SHRI NABA KUMAR SARANIA:

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

- (a) whether all  courts  of  the  country  are  computerised  and  if  so,
- the details thereof;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  made  efforts  to  modernize  the infrastructure of district courts in the country;
- (c)
- if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government has taken steps to digitize the court services for easy accessibility of courts to common citizens;
- (e) if  so,  the  details  of  progress  made  during  the  last  five  years;
- and
- (f) if not, the reasons therefor?

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

- (a)    : The  Government  has  launched  the  eCourts  Integrated  Mission  Mode Project  for  computerization  of  District  and  subordinate  courts  in  the  country with the objective of improving access to justice using technology. The Phase I of eCourts was concluded in 2015. Phase II of the project started in 2015 and 18,735 District & Subordinate courts have been computerised till phase II. The detailed break-up of computerization of court complexes has been attached in Annexure-I.

(b)&  (c): The  primary  responsibility  of  the  development  of  infrastructure facilities  for  the  judiciary  rests  with  the  State  Governments.  The  Union Government  has  been  implementing  a  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  for  the development of infrastructure facilities for the Judiciary by providing financial assistance  to  State  Governments  /  UTs  in  the  prescribed  fund-sharing  pattern between the Centre and States. The scheme is being implemented since 199394. It covers the construction of court buildings and residential accommodations for judicial officers of the district and subordinate judiciary. The scheme does not cover High Courts. A sum of Rs. 9815 crores has been released under the Scheme so far since its inception, out of which Rs. 6370.78 crores (64.91%) has been released since 2014-15. The scheme has been extended from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with a budgetary outlay of Rs. 9000 crores including a central share of Rs.  5307.00  crores.  Besides  the  construction  of  court  halls  and  residential quarters, the scheme now also covers the construction of lawyers' halls, digital computer rooms, and toilet complexes in the district and subordinate Courts. As on date, 21,297 Court Halls and 18,752 residential accommodations have been made available for judicial officers of the District and Subordinate judiciary in the country. In addition, 2,806 court halls and 1,654 residential units are under construction in various States.

(d) to (f): As part of the National eGovernance Plan, the eCourts Mission Mode Project  is  under  implementation  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'. 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.In the eCourts Project the  Government 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  22.38 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 1.70 cr. downloads  till  28thFebruary  2023)  and  JustIS  app  for  judges  (18,407 downloads till 31st December 2022).
- v. The India emerged as a global leader in Video Conferencing. The High Courts (78,29,283cases and Subordinate Courts 1,87,71,348 cases) have conducted  2.66  crore  virtual  hearings  till  28.02.2023.  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. Live Streaming of court proceedings has been started in High Courts of Gujarat, Gauhati, Orissa, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Patna, Madhya Pradesh &  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  of  India  thus  allowing  media  and  other interested persons to join the proceedings.
- vii. 21 Virtual Courts in 17 States/UTs have been operationalized to handle traffic challan cases. More than 2.74 crore cases have been handled by 21 virtual courts and in more than 35 lakhs (35,20,799) cases online fine of more than Rs. 380 (380.86) crores has been realized till 28.02.2023.
- viii. 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 28.02.2023.
- ix. 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 28.02.2022.
- x. To  bridge  the  digital  divide,  714eSewaKendras  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.
- xi. 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.
- xii. 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.

****

## Annexure-I

Statement  referred  to  in  reply  of  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.5034  for  31/03/2023  regarding Modernization of District Courts. The details of court complex and computerization of courts  are as under:

|   S.No | High Court                 | State                                                           |   Court Complexes |   Courts |
|--------|----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|----------|
|      1 | Allahabad                  | Uttar Pradesh                                                   |               180 |     2222 |
|      2 | Andhra Pradesh             | Andhra Pradesh                                                  |               218 |      617 |
|      3 | Bombay                     | Dadra and Nagar Haveli                                          |                 1 |        3 |
|      3 | Bombay                     | Daman and Diu                                                   |                 2 |        2 |
|      3 | Bombay                     | Goa                                                             |                17 |       39 |
|      3 | Bombay                     | Maharashtra                                                     |               471 |     2157 |
|      4 | Calcutta                   | Andaman &Nicobar Islands                                        |                 4 |       14 |
|      4 | Calcutta                   | West Bengal                                                     |                89 |      827 |
|      5 | Chhattisgarh               | Chhattisgarh                                                    |                93 |      434 |
|      6 | Delhi                      | Delhi                                                           |                 6 |      681 |
|      7 | Gauhati                    | Arunachal Pradesh                                               |                14 |       28 |
|      7 | Gauhati                    | Assam                                                           |                74 |      408 |
|      7 | Gauhati                    | Mizoram                                                         |                 8 |       69 |
|      7 | Gauhati                    | Nagaland                                                        |                11 |       37 |
|      8 | Gujarat                    | Gujarat                                                         |               376 |     1268 |
|      9 | Himachal Pradesh           | Himachal Pradesh                                                |                50 |      162 |
|     10 | Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh | Union Territory of Jammu &Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh |                86 |      218 |
|     11 | Jharkhand                  | Jharkhand                                                       |                28 |      447 |
|     12 | Karnataka                  | Karnataka                                                       |               207 |     1031 |
|     13 | Kerala                     | Kerala                                                          |               158 |      484 |
|     13 | Kerala                     | Lakshadweep                                                     |                 1 |        3 |
|     14 | Madhya Pradesh             | Madhya Pradesh                                                  |               213 |     1363 |
|     15 | Madras                     | Puducherry                                                      |                 4 |       24 |
|     15 | Madras                     | Tamil Nadu                                                      |               263 |     1124 |
|     16 | Manipur                    | Manipur                                                         |                17 |       38 |
|     17 | Meghalaya                  | Meghalaya                                                       |                 7 |       42 |
|     18 | Orissa                     | Odisha                                                          |               185 |      686 |
|     19 | Patna                      | Bihar                                                           |                84 |     1142 |
|     20 | Punjab &Haryana            | Chandigarh                                                      |                 1 |       30 |
|     20 | Punjab &Haryana            | Haryana                                                         |                53 |      500 |
|     20 | Punjab &Haryana            | Punjab                                                          |                64 |      541 |
|     21 | Rajasthan                  | Rajasthan                                                       |               247 |     1240 |
|     22 | Sikkim                     | Sikkim                                                          |                 8 |       23 |
|     23 | Telangana                  | Telangana                                                       |               129 |      476 |
|     24 | Tripura                    | Tripura                                                         |                14 |       84 |
|     25 | Uttarakhand                | Uttarakhand                                                     |                69 |      271 |
|     25 | Total                      |                                                                 |              3452 |    18735 |