Lok Sabha Question No. 1721 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-11
Subject: Progress of e-Courts Project
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Dulal Chandra Goswami, Pratima Mondal

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1721 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 11 th  FEBRUARY, 2022

## Progress of e-Courts Project

## 1721   SHRI DULAL CHAND GOSWAMI: SHRIMATI PRATIMA MONDAL

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

- (a)  whether  the  e-Courts  project  has  made  significant  progress,  if  so,  the details thereof and the current status of the project along with the funds released and utilised for the same;
- (b)  the  number  of  courts  digitized  by  the  court  under  e-court  mission including  the  number  of  district  courts  that  have  complied  with  the project;
- (c) the steps taken for ICT enablement of district and subordinate courts of the country and the number of electronic transactions, transacted under e-Courts Project; and
- (d) the steps taken in order to provide efficient and time-bound access to the court services to litigant public, who are on the other side of the digital divide and don't have access to internet?

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

(a) to (c): With the objective of universal computerisation of all the District & Subordinate  Court  complexes,  Department  of  Justice  in  close  coordination with eCommittee of Supreme Court of India is implementing eCourts Mission

Mode Project. In the phase-I of the project from 2011-2015, out of total outlay of Rs.935 crore, the Government incurred an expenditure of Rs. 639.41crore. In the phase- II of the project which is started in 2015, out of total outlay of Rs. 1670 crore, the Government has released a sum of Rs. 1620.72 crore till 07.02.2022 to various implementing agencies involved in the implementation of the project.As per information provided by eCommittee of Supreme Court of India total 18,735 District and Sub-ordinate courts have been digitised under the eCourts Project so far.Towards enhancement of ICT enablement of Courts, following initiatives have been taken under eCourts project by the eCommittee of the Supreme Court and the Department of Justice:

- i. Under  the  Wide  Area  Network  (WAN)  Project,  2960  courts  sites  have been  commissioned  (as  on  07.02.2022)  with  10  Mbps  to  100  Mbps bandwidth speed.
- ii. Case Information Software (CIS) which forms the basis for the e-Court services is based on customized Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) which has been developed by NIC. 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.
- iii. A new software patch and user manual for COVID-19 management has also been developed to help in smart scheduling of cases.
- iv. 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  19.81 crore cases and  more  than 16.61 crore  orders  / judgments  pertaining to these computerized (as on 01.02.2022). Open APIs have been introduced in 2020 to allow Central and State Governments and institutional litigants

- including  local  bodies  to  access  NJDG  data  to  improve  pendency monitoring and compliance.
- v. 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  72.20  lakh downloads  till  3 rd January  2022)  and  JustIS  app  for  judges  (16,961 downloads till 2 nd February 2022). JustIS mobile app is now available in iOS as well.
- vi. 17 Virtual Courts in 13 States/UTs have been operationalized to handle traffic challan cases. More than 1.24 crore cases have been handled by 17 virtual courts and in more than 21 lakhs (21,45,341) cases online fine of more than Rs. 221.07 crore has been realised till 02.02.2022.
- vii. The Supreme Court of India emerged as a global leader by conducting 1,81,909 hearings  (till 08.01.2022  since  the  beginning  of  lockdown period).  The  High  Courts  (57,39,966 cases  and  Subordinate  Courts (1,08,36,087 cases)  have  conducted  1.65  crore  virtual  hearings  till 30.11.2021.  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. A sum of Rs. 7.60  crore  has  been  released  for  procurement  of  1732  Document Visualizers.
- 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  17  high  Courts  have  adopted  the  model  rules  of  e-Filing  as  on 31.12.2021.
- 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  16  High  Courts  have  implemented ePayments in their respective jurisdictions. The Court Fees Act has been amended in 23 High Courts till 31.12.2021.
- x. 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 26 States/ UTs.
- xi. 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.
- xii. To make effective use of database created through National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) and to make the information available to public 30 LED Display Message Sign Board System called Justice Clocks, have been installed in 20 High Courts.
- xiii. 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 12 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  3,60,993  stakeholders,  including  High  Court  Judges,  Judges  of the District Judiciary, Court Staff, Master Trainers among Judges/DSA, Technical Staff of High Courts, and Advocates.

As per data published on Electronic Transaction Aggregation & Analysis Layer (eTaal) portal, eCourts is leading among top 5 MMPs in India with total 371 Cr e-transactions in last one year.

(d):  To  bridge  digital  divide,Government  has  released  Rs.  12.54  crore  for setting  up  eSewaKendras.  As  on  31.12.2021,  451  eSewaKendras  have  been made  functional  under  25  High  Courts.  Rs.  12.12  cr  has  been  allocated  for creating  1732  Help  Desk  counters  for  e-Filing  in  Court  Complexes;  Judicial Service Centres have been established at all computerized courts to serve as a single window for filing petitions and applications by litigants / lawyers and for disseminating judicial information related to cause lists and other case related information to the lawyers and litigants through Info Kiosks. Mobile e-courts van  equipped  with  Wi-Fi  and  computers  for  video  conferencing  for  speedy disposal of cases have also been started in Uttarakhandand Telangana.

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