Lok Sabha Question No. 1520 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-10
Subject: Judicial Process
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Vijay Baghel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. † 1520 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 10 th  FEBRUARY, 2021

## JUDICIAL PROCESS

## † 1520. SHRI VIJAY BAGHEL

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

- (a) whether a large number of cases are adding upto the pending cases due to Corona crisis; and
- (b) if so, the details of the efforts being made by the Government to expedite the said process?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) to (b): Disposal  of  pending  cases  in  courts  is  within  the  domain  of  the judiciary.  There  is  no  one  single  factor  like  Covid  which  can  be  attributed  to increase  in  pendency  of  cases.  Pendency  of  cases  in  courts  depends  on  several factors  which,  inter-alia  includes  availability  of  adequate  number  of  judges, supporting  court  staff  and  physical  infrastructure,  complexity  of  facts  involved, nature of  evidence,  cooperation  of  stake  holders  viz.  bar,  investigation  agencies, witnesses and litigants and proper application of rules and procedures.

After announcement of nation-wide lockdown from 25 th March, 2020, directions have been issued from time to time by the respective High Courts to the Subordinate  Courts  under  their  administrative  jurisdiction  for  hearing  of  urgent civil  and  criminal  matters  in  virtual  or  physical  mode  depending  on  local conditions. Most High Courts have further advised district and subordinate courts that where there is no shut down/lockdown, they may, as far as possible, resume normal  functioning  by  virtual/physical  mode  and  take  up  all  kind  of  cases, including those pertaining to under-trial prisoners, trial of civil cases, matrimonial disputes,  child  custody  matters,  recording  of  evidence  and  other  old  matters. Wherever physical hearing has been permitted in district and subordinate courts, they have been advised to strictly adhere to Covid protocols and social distancing norms and take all precautions including consent of the parties. A new Software Patch  and  Court  User  Manual  has  been  recently  developed  for  COVID-  19 Management. This tool has been developed to help in smart scheduling all cases to effectively  manage  overcrowding  in  courts.  As  regards  the  Supreme  Court,  an overarching  order  has  been  issued  by  the  Supreme  Court  on  06.04.2020  giving legal sanctity and validity to video conference hearing.

Video conferencing emerged as the mainstay of the Courts during the Covid lockdown  period  as  physical  hearings  and  normal  court  proceedings  in  the congregational mode were not possible. Since Covid lockdown started, the District courts heard 45,73,159 cases while the High Court heard 20,60,318 cases (totalling to 66.33 lakh) till 31.12.2020 using video conferencing only. The Supreme Court had 52,353 hearings since the lockdown period upto 31.01.2021.

National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms was set up in August, 2011 with the twin objectives of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears in  the  system  and  enhancing  accountability  through  structural  changes  and  by setting performance standards and capacities.  The Mission has been pursuing a coordinated  approach  for  phased  liquidation  of  arrears  and  pendency  in  judicial administration, which, inter-alia, involves better infrastructure for courts including computerization, increase in strength of subordinate judiciary, policy and legislative  measures  in  the  areas  prone  to  excessive  litigation,  re-engineering  of court  procedure  for  quick  disposal  of  cases  and  emphasis  on  human  resource development.  The  major  steps  taken  during  the  last  five  years  under  various initiatives are as follows:

- (i) Improving  infrastructure  for  Judicial  Officers  of  District  and  Subordinate Courts: As on date, Rs. 8,288.30 crores have been released since the inception of  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  (CSS)  for  Development  of  Infrastructure Facilities  for  Judiciary  in  1993-94.  The  number  of  court  halls  has  increased from  15,818  as  on  30.06.2014  to  20,062  as  on  28.01.2021  and  number  of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to  17,736 as on 28.01.2021  under  this  scheme.  In  addition,  2,808  court  halls  and  1,843 residential units are under construction.
- (ii) Leveraging  Information  and  Communication  Technology  (ICT)  for  improved justice  delivery:  Government  has  been  implementing  the  e-Courts  Mission Mode  Project  throughout  the  country  for  Information  and  Communication Technology  enablement  of  district and subordinate courts.    Number  of computerized  District  &  Subordinate  courts  has  increased  from  13,672  (in 2014) to 18,735 as on 28.01.2021, registering an increase of 5,063.  New and user-friendly  version  of  Case  Information  Software  has  been  developed  and deployed  at all the computerized  District and  Subordinate  Courts. All

stakeholders  including  Judicial  Officers  can  access  information  relating  to judicial  proceedings/decisions  of  computerized  District  &  Subordinate  Courts and High Courts on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG). As on 01.01.2021, litigants  can  access  case  status  of  over  17.90  crore  cases  and  13.36  crore order/judgements pertaining to these courts. eCourts services such as details of case  registration,  cause  list,  case  status,  daily  orders  &  final  judgments  are available to litigants and advocates through eCourts web portal, Judicial Service Centres (JSC) in all computerized courts, eCourts Mobile App, email service, SMS  push  &  pull  services.  Video  Conferencing  facility  has  been  enabled between 3240 court complexes and 1272 corresponding jails. With a view to handle the COVID- 19 challenges better and to make the transition to virtual hearings smoother, funds have been provided for setting up 235 e-SewaKendras at court complexes to facilitate lawyers and litigants needing assistance ranging from case status, getting judgements/orders,  court/case related information and efiling facilities. Rs. 5.01 crores has been allocated for providing equipment in Video  Conferencing  cabins  in  various  court  complexes  to  facilitate  virtual hearings. Rs. 12.12 crores has been allocated for 1732 Help desk counters for efiling in various court complexes.

Nine  Virtual  Courts  have  been  set  up  at  Delhi  (2  courts),  Faridabad (Haryana),  Pune  &  Nagpur  (Maharashtra)  Kochi  (Kerala),  Chennai  (Tamil Nadu), Guwahati (Assam) and Bengaluru (Karnataka) to try traffic offences. As on 20.01.2021, these courts  have handled  41,98,095 cases and realised Rs.139.25cr in fines.

- (iii) Filling up of vacant positions in Supreme Court, High Courts and District and Subordinate Courts: From 01.05.2014 to 25.01.2021, 35 Judges were appointed

in Supreme Court. 570 new Judges were appointed and 520 Additional Judges were  made  permanent  in  the  High  Courts.  Sanctioned  strength  of  Judges  of High  Courts  has  been  increased  from  906  in  May,  2014  to  1080  currently. Sanctioned and working strength of Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate Courts has increased as follows:

| As on      | Sanctioned Strength   | Working Strength   |
|------------|-----------------------|--------------------|
| 31.12.2013 | 19,518                | 15,115             |
| 28.01.2021 | 24,247                | 19,318             |

Filling up of vacancies in Subordinate judiciary falls within the domain of the State Governments and High Courts concerned.

- (iv) Reduction  in  Pendency  through  /  follow  up  by  Arrears  Committees:  In pursuance  of  resolution  passed  in  Chief  Justices'  Conference  held  in  April, 2015,  Arrears  Committees  have  been  set  up  in  High  Courts  to  clear  cases pending for more than five years.  Arrears Committees have been set up under District  Judges  too.    Arrears  Committee  has  been  constituted  in  the  Supreme Court  to  formulate  steps  to  reduce  pendency  of  cases  in  High  Courts  and District Courts.

Further, communications have been addressed by Minister of Law & Justice to Chief  Justices  of  High  Courts  and  to  Chief  Ministers  on  20.06.2014  and 14.08.2018 drawing their attention to  cases  pending  for  more  than  five  years and to take up pendency reduction campaign.

- (v) Emphasis on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (as  amended  on  20 th August, 2018) stipulates mandatory pre-institution mediation and settlement of commercial disputes. Amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been made by the Arbitration and Conciliation  (Amendment)  Act  2015  for  expediting  the  speedy  resolution  of disputes by prescribing timelines.
- (vi) Initiatives  to  Fast  Track  Special  Type  of  Cases:  The  Fourteenth  Finance Commission endorsed the proposal of the Government to strengthen the judicial system in States which included, inter-alia, establishing Fast Track Courts for cases of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children etc., and urged the State Governments to use the additional fiscal space provided in the  form  of  enhanced  tax  devolution  form  32%  to  42%  to  meet  such requirements. As on 18.01.2021, Fast Track Courts are functional for heinous crimes, crimes against women and children, family and matrimonial disputes, etc. To fast track criminal cases involving elected MPs / MLAs, ten (10) Special Courts  are  functional  in  nine  (9)  States/UTs  (1  each  in  Madhya  Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,  Karnataka, Andhra  Pradesh,  Telangana, Uttar Pradesh,  West  Bengal  and  2  in  NCT  of  Delhi)  and  proportionate  funds  have been  released  to  these  States  by  the  Government.  Further,  Government  has approved  a  scheme  for  setting  up  1023  Fast  Track  Special  Courts  (FTSCs) across the country for expeditious disposal of pending cases of Rape under IPC and  crimes  under  POCSO  Act.  As  on  date,  28  States/UTs  have  joined  the scheme  for  setting  up  of  823  FTSCs  including    'exclusive  POCSO  Courts'. Rs.140 crore was released in the financial year 2019-20 and Rs. 89.89 crore has been released during the financial year 2020-21 for the scheme. Presently 609 FTSCs are functional including 331 exclusive POCSO Courts.
- (vii) In addition, to reduce pendency and unclogging of the courts the Government has recently amended various laws like the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Commercial Courts (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Specific  Relief  (Amendment)  Act,  2018,  the  Arbitration  and  Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2018.

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