Lok Sabha Question No. 2776 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-17
Subject: Functional e-Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Rajveer (Raju Bhaiya) Singh, Sukanta Majumdar, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, Jayanta Kumar Roy, Raja Amareshwara Naik, Jayant Sinha, Kripanath Mallah, Bhola Singh, V. Kalanidhi

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2776 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 17 th MARCH 2023

## Functional e-Courts

## 2776. SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR:

SHRI RAJVEER SINGH (RAJUBHAIYA):

DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR:

SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO:

DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY:

SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK:

SHRI JAYANT SINHA:

SHRI KRIPANATH MALLAH:

SHRI BHOLA SINGH:

DR. KALANIDHI VEERASWAMY:

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

- (a) the salient features of the e-Courts Mission Mode Project;
- (b) the status of implementation of the project and the number of operational e-Courts in the country, State-wise and district-wise;
- (c) the details of the number of e-Courts functional cross the country and the details of the  funds  sanctioned,  allocated  and  utilized  for  this  project  during  the  last  three years and the current year across the country, State-wise including Tamil Nadu;
- (d) the  details  of  the  targets  set  and  achievements  made  under  the  e-Courts  Mission thereof during the said period;
- (e) the number of cases disposed off by thee-Courts during last five years;
- (f) whether the Government has proposed to launchphase-3 of the e-Courts project for efficient  administration  of  justice,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  funds allocated and targets set there under; and
- (g) the steps taken by the Government in popularizing and simplifying the procedural requirements in e-Courts in the country?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (d):The  Government  has  launched  the  eCourts  Integrated  Mission  Mode  Project  in  the country for computerization of District and subordinate courts with the objective of improving access to justice using technology. 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'.  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  under  which  18,735  District  & Subordinate courts have been computerised so far. The salient features of the e-Courts mission mode projects include:

-  Providing  IT  infrastructure  to  new  courts  as  well  asto  existing  courts  and  to  provide additional hardware for the courts covered in phase I
-  Replacement  of  the  obsolete  Laptops  provided  to  judicial  officers  in  Phase-I  and provisioning of Laptops and other IT facilities to new judicial officers
-  Installation of VC equipment in Courts and Jails
-  Provision of laptops, printers, UPS and connectivity to judicial Officers not coveredunder  Phase  Iand  replacement  of  obsolete  hardware  provided  to  Judicial Officers underPhase I
-  Installation of hardware in Judicial Academies and training labs
-  Computerisation of District Legal Service Authority (DLSA) and Taluka Legal Services Committees (TLSC)
-  Cloud connectivity in all Court Complexes
-  Connecting all courts inthe country through WAN
-  Solar  energy  equipment  to  5%  of  the  court  complexes  in  order  to  provide  sustained power availability
-  Installation and operation of e-Office, Document Management System, Learning Tools Management  System  and  Judicial  Knowledge  Management  System  and  Localisation ProjectManagement Framework for all courts in the country
-  Software development for eCourts Phase II
-  Change Management  initiatives for training, outreach campaign and awareness programmes to stakeholders

The  detailed  break-up  of  operational  e-Courts  in  the  country  has  been  attached  in  AnnexureI.Funds released during the last three years for infrastructure development of e-Courts are given in  Annexure-II.The  details  of  the  targetsof    phase  II  of  eCourts  Project  has  been  attached  in Annexure III. 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  22.38 crore cases and more than 20.83 crore orders / judgments (as on 01.03.2023).
- 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 1.64 cr. downloads till 31 st January 2023) 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 2.53 crore cases have been handled by 21 virtual courts and in more than 33 lakhs (33,57,972) cases online fine of more than Rs. 359.34 crore has been realized till 31.01.2023.
- v. The Supreme Court of India emerged as a global leader by conducting 4,02,937 hearings (till 31.01.2023 since the beginning of lockdown period). The High Courts (77,67,596 cases) and Subordinate Courts (1,84,95,235 cases) have conducted 2.62 crore virtual hearings till 31.01.2023.
- 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 31.01.2023.
- 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, 689eSewaKendras 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.
4. (e): As per the data available on NJDG the number of cases disposed during last five years are as follows:-
5. (f): The phase II of the project is nearing its completion and DPR for e-Courts Phase III has been finalized  and  approved  by  eCommittee,  Supreme  Court  of  India  on  21st  October  2022.  The meeting of the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) was held on 23.02.2023. Other, requisite approvals of eCourts Project Phase-III are at advance stage.
6. (g):  Courts  procedures  are  an  administrative  matter  which  strictly  comes  under  the  domain  of judiciary in which the government has no direct role to play.

|   Year |   Total Cases Instituted |   Total Cases Disposed |
|--------|--------------------------|------------------------|
|   2022 |                 21853647 |               19521570 |
|   2021 |                 18161344 |               14568227 |
|   2020 |                 12577604 |                7731987 |
|   2019 |                 16893238 |               14951046 |
|   2018 |                 15225544 |               13250054 |

To  popularize  eCourts  in  the  country,  the  eCommittee  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  India  has conducted  117  trainings  and  awareness  programmes  on  the  ICT  services  provided  under  the eCourts project. 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.

5

## Annexure-I

Statement  referred  to  in  reply  of  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.2776  for  17/03/2023 regardingFunctional e-Courts. The details of operational eCourts in the country 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 |
|        | Total                      |                                                                 |              3452 |    18735 |

## Annexure-II

Statement  referred  to  in  reply  of  Lok  Sabha  Question  No.2776  for  17/03/2023  regarding Functionale-Courts. The funds released during the last three years for infrastructure development are:

| S.No.   | High Courts                 | 2019-20        | 2019-20        | 2020-21        | 2020-21        | 2021-22        | 2021-22        |
|---------|-----------------------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
| S.No.   | High Courts                 | Released (Cr.) | Utilized (Cr.) | Released (Cr.) | Utilized (Cr.) | Released (Cr.) | Utilized (Cr.) |
| 1       | Allahabad                   | 15.04          | 9.00           | 13.79          | 5.11           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 2       | Andhra Pradesh              | 0.00           | 0.00           | 1.96           | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 3       | Bombay                      | 0.00           | 0.00           | 8.86           | 7.91           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 4       | Calcutta                    | 0.00           | 0.00           | 4.93           | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 5       | Chhattisgarh                | 4.44           | 4.40           | 2.34           | 2.22           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 6       | Delhi                       | 0.00           | 0.00           | 3.00           | 0.63           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 7       | Gauhati (Arunachal Pradesh) | 0.98           | 0.98           | 1.52           | 0.18           | 1.26           | 0.00           |
| 8       | Gauhati (Assam)             | 13.68          | 13.40          | 6.11           | 1.78           | 3.49           | 3.30           |
| 9       | Gauhati (Mizoram)           | 0.51           | 0.31           | 0.72           | 0.35           | 0.30           | 0.00           |
| 10      | Gauhati (Nagaland)          | 0.70           | 0.33           | 0.83           | 0.18           | 0.84           | 0.00           |
| 11      | Gujarat*                    | 0.00           | 0.00           | 3.48           | 0.83           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 12      | Himachal Pradesh            | 0.00           | 0.00           | 2.00           | 1.24           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 13      | Jammu& Kashmir and Ladakh   | 0.00           | 0.00           | 1.00           | 0.17           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 14      | Jharkhand                   | 5.53           | 0.35           | 2.98           | 0.48           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 15      | Karnataka                   | 9.15           | 8.92           | 4.29           | 2.49           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 16      | Kerala                      | 0.00           | 0.00           | 2.83           | 1.23           | 1.58           | 0.00           |
| 17      | Madhya Pradesh              | 11.21          | 5.92           | 6.28           | 6.16           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 18      | Madras                      | 0.00           | 0.00           | 4.73           | 2.45           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 19      | Manipur                     | 0.61           | 0.36           | 1.30           | 0.21           | 0.76           | 0.00           |
| 20      | Meghalaya                   | 0.92           | 0.09           | 2.32           | 0.36           | 2.23           | 0.65           |
| 21      | Orissa                      | 13.46          | 0.00           | 3.37           | 1.63           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 22      | Patna                       | 7.08           | 4.61           | 5.44           | 1.67           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 23      | Punjab& Haryana             | 0.00           | 0.00           | 4.55           | 0.64           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 24      | Rajasthan                   | 1.29           | 1.29           | 10.58          | 8.99           | 1.62           | 1.62           |
| 25      | Sikkim                      | 1.61           | 0.68           | 1.01           | 0.92           | 0.77           | 0.00           |
| 26      | Telangana                   | 0.00           | 0.00           | 1.79           | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 27      | Tripura                     | 2.24           | 1.33           | 4.44           | 3.82           | 0.95           | 0.46           |
| 28      | Uttarakhand                 | 0.00           | 0.00           | 1.28           | 0.63           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| Total   | Total                       | 88.44          | 51.97          | 107.74         | 52.28          | 13.80          | 6.02           |

## Annexure-III

Statement referred to in reply of Lok Sabha Question No.2776 for 17/03/2023 regarding Functionale-Courts. The details of year wise targetare as under:

|         |                                                                           | Year 1    | Year 1     | Year 2    | Year 2     | Year 3    | Year 3     | Year 4    | Year 4     | Total Target   | Total in Crores   |
|---------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------|------------|-----------|------------|-----------|------------|-----------|------------|----------------|-------------------|
| Sl. No. | Component                                                                 | Physic al | Finan cial | Physic al | Financ ial | Physi cal | Financ ial | Physi cal | Financ ial |                |                   |
| 1 (a)   | Additional Hardware for 14249 courts (1 + 3 format)                       | 3575      | 108.8      | 3550      | 108.1      | 7124      | 216.89     | 0         | 0          | 14249          | 433.8             |
| 1 (b)   | Computeris ation of new courts (2+6 format)                               | 1000      | 54.16      | 1000      | 54.16      | 1000      | 54.16      | 1013      | 54.87      | 4013           | 217.4             |
| 1 (c)   | Compt. Of expected courts (2+6)                                           |           |            | 0         |            | 0         |            | 1738      | 94.14      | 1738           | 94.14             |
| 2 (a)   | Technical infrastructur e at existing Court Complexes                     | 1000      | 88.16      | 1000      | 88.16      | 700       | 61.71      |           | 0          | 2700           | 238               |
| 2 (b)   | Technical infrastructur e at new Court Complexes                          | 200       | 25.63      | 150       | 19.22      | 150       | 19.22      | 300       | 38.45      | 800            | 102.5             |
| 3 (a)   | Replacemen t of obsolete Laptops provided to Judicial Officers in Ph-I    | 7155      | 32.43      | 0         | 0          | 0         | 0          | 0         | 0          | 7155           | 32.43             |
| 3 (b)   | Provisionin g of Laptops and other IT facilities to new judicial officers | 1800      | 9.86       | 1630      | 8.92       | 1630      | 8.92       | 1631      | 8.93       | 6691           | 36.64             |
| 4 (a)   | Installation of VC equipments                                             | 1000      | 11         | 750       | 8.25       | 750       | 8.25       | 0         | 0          | 2500           | 27.5              |
| 4 (b)   | in Courts Installation of VC equipments                                   | 300       | 2.1        | 300       | 2.1        | 200       | 1.4        | 0         | 0          | 800            | 5.6               |
|         | in Jails Installation of hardwares in Jas TLs                             | 17        | 3.46       | 3         | 0.61       | 0         | 0          | 0         | 0          | 20             | 4.07              |
| 6 (a)   | Computeris ation of                                                       | 400       | 9.15       | 222       | 5.08       | 0         | 0          | 0         | 0          | 622            | 14.23             |

|                   | DLSAs                              |        |    |        |      |        |      |        |      |         |
|-------------------|------------------------------------|--------|----|--------|------|--------|------|--------|------|---------|
| 6 (b)             | Computeris ation of TLSCs          |   0    | 0  |   0    | 1168 |  16.74 | 1000 |  14.33 | 2168 |   31.08 |
| 7                 | Cloud Connectivit y in all CCs     |  25    | 0  |  25    | 0    |  23    |      |   0    | 3500 |   73    |
| 8                 | WAN Connectivit y                  |  38.55 |    |  77.11 |      |  77.11 |      |  38.55 |      |  231.3  |
| 9                 | Solar Energy in 5% Court Complexes |   0    | 58 |   8.75 | 58   |   8.75 | 58   |   8.75 | 175  |   26.25 |
| 10                | Software Developme nt              |  12.33 | 0  |  13.46 | 0    |  14.71 |      |   2.28 |      |   42.78 |
| 11                | Change Managemen t                 |   5    |    |   5    |      |   5    |      |   5    |      |   20    |
| 12                | Judicial Process Reengineeri ng    |   5    |    |   5    |      |   5    |      |   5    |      |   20    |
| 13                | JKMS                               |   4.82 |    |   4.82 |      |   4.82 |      |   4.82 |      |   19.28 |
| 14                | Service Delivery                   |   0    |    |   0    |      |   0    |      |   0    |      |    0    |
| Total as per plan | Total as per plan                  | 435.5  |    | 433.7  |      | 525.68 |      | 275.12 |      | 1670    |