Lok Sabha Question No. 185 (STARRED), answered on 2021-12-10
Subject: e-Courts Mission Mode Project
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Jyotirmay Singh Mahato, Manoj Rajoria

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION No. *185 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 10 th  DECEMBER, 2021

## e-Courts Mission Mode Project

## †*185. SHRI JYOTIRMAY SINGH MAHATO: DR. MANOJ RAJORIA:

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

- (a) whether the Government is implementing e-Courts Mission Mode Project and if so, the details of targets set and the achievements made in this regard including  the  number  of  courts  digitalized  under  the  said  project,  State-wise including West Bengal;
- (b) the status of progress made  in  digitalization of subordinate  courts, State/UT-wise including West Bengal; and
- (c)  the  steps  taken by the Union and State Governments and further plans to accelerate the adoption of e-courts system across the country including West Bengal?

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

(a) to (c)  :  A  Statement is laid on the Table of the House

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (c) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *185 FOR 10 TH  DECEMBER

## 2021 REGARDING e-COURTS MISSION MODE PROJECT

(a) to (b): The eCourts Integrated Mission Mode Project is one of the National eGovernance projects being implemented in District and Subordinate Courts of the country.The eCommittee of Supreme Court of India, headed by a Supreme Court Judge, is responsible for the policy planning, strategic direction and guidance for implementation  of  eCourts  project  and  works  in  collaborative  partnership  with Department of Justice in this regard.

The  eCourts  Mission  Mode  Project  (MMP)  Phase-I  was  implemented  during 2011-15.The Government approved the ongoing Phase II of the eCourts MMP in July 2015. A  total18,735 courts have been computerized  till date.List of computerized courts including West Bengalis attached at Annexure-I.

Against the financial outlay of Rs.1670 crore in the phase II of the project, the Government has released a sum of Rs. 1611.19 crore as on 03.12.2021 to various agencies involved in the implementation of the project. This includes a sum of Rs. 1151.84 crore released to various High Courts for this purpose.

The Phase-II of the Project  seeks to ensure  enhancement of ICT enablement of Courts and the salient initiatives are as enlisted:

- i. The Wide Area Network (WAN) Project under eCourts project is aimed at connecting all District and Subordinate court complexes, spread across the country  using  various  technologies  like  OFC  (Optical  Fiber  Cable),  RF (Radio  Frequency),  VSAT  (Very  Small  Aperture  Terminal).  So  far,  2956 sites have been commissioned out of 2992 sites with 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps bandwidth speed (completing 98.7% sites). This forms the backbone for the

eCourts  project  ensuring  data  connectivity  in  courts  across  the  length  and breadth of the country.

- 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.This tool helps in smart scheduling of cases.
- iv. 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  68.04  lakh  downloads  till  1 st November  2021)  and  JustIS  app  for judges (16,751 downloads till 2 nd December 2021).
- v. 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 17 High Courts.
- vi. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) is a database of orders, judgments and case details of 18,735 computerised District & Subordinate Courts 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.  Through  the  eCourts  services  platform currently  litigants  can  access  case  status  information  in  respect  of  over 19.76crore cases and more than 15.99 crore orders/ judgments pertaining to

these computerized courts (as on 03.12.2021). Open  APIs  has  been introduced in 2020 to allow Central and State Governments and institutional litigants to access NJDG data to help tracking of government litigation and improve pendency monitoring and  compliance.Recently, reasons  for  delay have been included in NJDG.

- vii. 15  Virtual  Courts  in  11  States/UTs  have  been  operationalized  to  handle traffic challan cases. More than 1.07 Crore cases have been handled by 15 virtual  courts  and  online  fine  of  Rs.  201  Crore  has  been  realised  till 03.12.2021.The Delhi High Court has set up 34 Digital Courts dealing with Negotiable Instruments Act cases.
- viii. The  Supreme  Court  of  India  emerged  as  a  global  leader  by  conducting 1,50,692 virtual hearings (as on 29.10.2021 since the beginning of lockdown period).The  High  Courts  (55,24,021  hearings)  and  Subordinate  Courts (1,01,77,289  hearings)  have  conducted  1.57  crore  virtual  hearings  till  31 st October  2021.  Funds  for  2506  Video  Conferencing  (VC)  cabins  and  VC equipment  for  14,443  court  rooms  have  also  been  released.  1500  VC licenses have been procured to promote virtual hearings.
- ix. Live  Streaming  of  video  conferencing  of  proceedings  has  been  started  in High Courts of Gujarat, Orissa and Karnataka. The Model Live Streaming Ruleshave been circulated amongst all the High Courts across the country for  their  suggestions,  inputs  and  insights  for  better  implementation  of  live streaming of court proceedings.
- x. New eFiling system (version 3.0) has been rolled out for the electronic filing of legal papers with advanced features like online submission of Vakalatnama,  eSigning,  online  video  recording  of  oath,  online  payment, filing of multiple IAs/application, Portfolio Management and bilingual mode etc.

- xi. To  bridge  the  digital  divide,  funds  have  been  released  for  setting  up  235 eSewa  Kendras  at  all  High  Courts  and  one  District  Court  in  every  state. India's  first  e-Resource  Center  was  inaugurated  at  Nagpur  in  Maharashtra. The  e-Resource  Centre  "Nyay  Kaushal"  will  facilitate  e-filing  and  VC  of cases  in  Supreme  Court  India,  High  Courts  and  District  Courts  across  the country. Mobile e-Courts vehicles equipped with Wi-Fi and computers have started in Telangana and Uttarakhand.
- xii. A  'Judgment &  Order  Search' portal has been inaugurated for the convenience  of  its  stakeholders  in  searching  judgments  easily.  The  new portal for judgments search is set to provide a repository for Judgments and Final Orders of the High Courts.
- xiii. To  make  effective  use  of  database  created  through  National  Judicial  Data Grid  (NJDG)  and  to  make  the  information  available  to  public  29  LED Display  Message  Sign  Board  System  called  Justice  Clocks,  have  been installed in 19 High Courts.

(c):  Various  steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Government  and  eCommittee  of  the Supreme Court to accelerate the adoption of e-Courts system  across the country including West Bengal which include:

- i. Towards creating widespread awareness and familiarization of eFiling and eCourts services and to address issues of skill divide, a manual on E filing and a Brochure on 'How to register for E Filing' has been made available in English, Hindi and 12 regional languages including Bengali for the use of the lawyers.
- ii. A YouTube channel has been created in the name of the e Court services with video tutorials on e-filing. This channel has garnered 15,300

subscribers with 1,70,881 views. This has helped advocates to acquire skills required for operating digital platforms with ease.

- iii. The eCommittee of the Supreme Court of India has conducted trainings and awareness  programmes  on  the  ICT  services.  These  programmes  have covered nearly 3,02,614 stakeholders, including High Court Judges, Judges of the District Judiciary, Court Staff, Master Trainers among Judges/District System Administrator (DSA), Technical Staff of High Courts, and Advocates through the 67 training/outreach programmes from May 2020 to November 2021.
- iv. A professional communication consultant agency was engaged in 2018-19 for assisting the eCourts PMU in developing and implementing an effective communication strategy and a coherent media plan for action, to effectively use various publicity tools and improve awareness about project outputs and eCourts  Services.  Posters,  brochures  and  user  manuals  were  designed, printed and distributed to all stakeholders across the country.
- v. Four eCourts campaigns were conducted through eSampark, NIC's platform for  sharing  informational  and  public  service  messages,  on  the  NICNET email database during July - November 2018.
- vi. Two  newsprint campaigns  in English and Hindi were completed in November  2018.  Newsprint  campaigns  in  English,  Hindi  and  16  regional languages were completed during November 2018 - January 2019.
- vii. Radio campaign in Hindi and 10 regional languages disseminating awareness  on  eCourts  Services  through  30  seconds  audio  jingles  were completed during January - March 2019.
- viii. Approximately 3.90 lakhs posters were printed in 20 different languages and dispatched  to  Common  Service  Centers  during  financial  year  2019-20  for

spreading  information  about  the  e  court  services.  SMS  campaign  was undertaken to reach about 32 crore citizens in order to inform them about eCourts services on app and portal in October 2019. Approximately 35,000 posters were put for litigants and lawyers to register their email and mobile number  with  eCourts  were  printed  in  20  Indian  languages.  They  were displayed at subordinate Courts for the information of the general public as well as the lawyers who visit these premises.

## Annexure-I

Statement referred to in reply of Lok Sabha Starred Question No.*185 for 10/12/2021 regarding e-Courts Mission Mode Project.The High Court wise and State-wise list of digitized courts is as under:

| Sr.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   | Jammu and Kashmir        |                86 |      218 |
| 11       | Jharkhand        | Jharkhand                |                28 |      447 |
| 12       | Karnataka        | Karnataka                |               207 |     1031 |
|          |                  | Kerala                   |               158 |      484 |
| 13       | Kerala           | Lakshadweep              |                 1 |        3 |
| 14       | Madhya Pradesh   | Madhya Pradesh           |               213 |     1363 |
| 15       | Madras           | Puducherry               |                 4 |       24 |
|          |                  | 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 |