Lok Sabha Question No. 3432 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-08
Subject: Efficiency and Effectiveness of Judicial System
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Smt. Malvika Devi

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3432 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 08 TH  AUGUST, 2025

## EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF JUDICIAL SYSTEM

## 3432.   SMT. MALVIKA DEVI:

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

- (a) the steps taken by the Government to ensure that the judicial system is more efficient and has higher effectiveness in the Country;
- (b)  the  steps  taken  to  ensure  that  pending  cases  are  sorted  on  priority basis; and
- (c)  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  educate  normal public  about their legal rights and the manner in which the Government is promoting Legal aid services?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS

## (SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

- (a) & (b): The resolution of pending cases in courts is within the exclusive domain  of  the  judiciary.  However,  the  Government  is  committed  towards facilitating expeditious disposal of cases by judiciary and reducing pendency. To this end, the Government has taken several initiatives to create an enabling ecosystem  for  faster  disposal  of  cases  by  the  judiciary  which  include  the following:

- i. The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms was set up in August, 2011, with the twin objectives of increasing access to justice by  reducing  delays  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 sanctioned strength of District and Subordinate Courts, policy and legislative measures in the areas prone to excessive  litigation  and  re-engineering  of  court  procedure  for  quick disposal of cases and emphasis on human resource development.
- ii. Under  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  for  development  of  Judicial Infrastructure, funds are being released to States/UTs for construction of court halls, residential quarters for judicial officers, lawyers' halls, toilet complexes  and  digital  computer  rooms  that  ease  the  life  of  various stakeholders including the litigants, thereby aiding justice delivery. As on 30.06.2025, Rs. 12,101.89 crores have been released since the inception of this Scheme in 1993-94. The number of court halls has increased from 15,818 (as on 30.06.2014) to 22,372 (as on 30.06.2025) and the number of  residential  units  has  increased  from  10,211  (as  on  30.06.2014)  to 19,851 (as on 30.06.2025), under this Scheme.
- iii. Under Phase I and II of the e-Courts Mission Mode Project, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was leveraged for IT enablement of  District  and  Subordinate  Courts  and  18,735  District  and  Subordinate Courts were computerized till 2023. WAN connectivity was provided to 2977 sites. Video Conferencing facility was enabled between 3,240 court complexes and 1,272 corresponding jails. 778 eSewa Kendras (facilitation centres) were established to bridge the digital divide by providing citizen centric services to lawyers and litigants. 21 virtual courts were set up in 17  States/UTs,  which  handled  more  than  2.78  crore  cases  and  realized

more than Rs. 384.14 crores in fines up to March 2023.

The  Phase-III  of  the  eCourts  Project  (2023-2027)  was  approved  on 13.09.2023 with an outlay of Rs.7,210 crore, which is aimed at ushering a regime of enhanced ease of justice by moving towards digital, online and paperless  courts.  It  intends  to  incorporate  latest  technology  such  as Artificial  Intelligence  (AI)  to  make  justice  delivery  progressively  more robust, easy and accessible. Till date, 506.05 crores pages of court records have  been  digitized  in  the  High  Courts  and  District  Courts.  More  than 3.65  crore  hearings  have  taken  place  through  Video  Conferencing  and live  streaming  is  functional  in  11  High  Courts.  The  number  of  eSewa Kendras (facilitation  centres)  has  increased  to  1814  across  High  Courts and District Courts. Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning tools are being  used  in  case  management  hearing  and  for  transcription  of  oral judgements in the Supreme Court of India.

- iv. The Government has been filling up vacancies of Judges in the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts from time to time. From 01.05.2014 to 21.07.2025, 70 Judges have been appointed in the Supreme Court. 1058 new  Judges  were  appointed  and  794  Additional  Judges  were  made permanent  in  the  High  Courts  during  the  same  period.  The  sanctioned strength  of  Judges  of  the  High  Courts  has  increased  from  906  in  May, 2014 to 1122 till date. The sanctioned and working strengths of judicial officers in District and Subordinate Courts have increased as under:

| As on      | Sanctioned Strength   | Working Strength   |
|------------|-----------------------|--------------------|
| 31.12.2013 | 19,518                | 15,115             |
| 05.08.2025 | 25,848                | 21,113             |

Source: MIS Portal of the Department of Justice

However, filling up of vacancies in District and Subordinate judiciary falls  within  the  domain  of  the  State/UT  Governments  and  High  Courts concerned.

- v. In pursuance of a Resolution passed in Chief Justices' Conference held in April, 2015, Arrears Committees have been set up in all 25 High Courts to clear cases pending for more than five years.  Arrears Committees have now been set up under District Courts as well.
- vi. Under the aegis of the Fourteenth Finance Commission, the Fast Track Courts  have  been  established  for  dealing  with  cases  of  heinous  crimes, cases involving senior citizens, women, children, etc. As on 30.06.2025, 865 Fast Track Courts are functional across the country. With a view to fast-track criminal cases involving elected MPs / MLAs, ten (10) Special Courts are functional in nine (9) States/UTs. Further, the Central Government had approved a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for setting up Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) across the country, for the expeditious disposal of pending cases of Rape and POCSO Act. As on 30.06.2025, 725  FTSCs  including  392  exclusive  POCSO  (ePOCSO)  Courts  are functional in 29 States/UTs, which have disposed of more than 3,34,000 cases since their inception.
- vii. With  a  view  to  reduce  pendency  and  unclogging  of  the  courts,  the Government has 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.
- viii. Alternate Dispute Resolution methods have been progressively promoted. Accordingly, The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 was amended in August, 2018 making Pre-institution Mediation and Settlement (PIMS) mandatory in case of commercial disputes. In order to further enhance the efficiency of  the  PIMS  mechanism,  the  Government,  through  The  Mediation  Act, 2023,  has  further  amended  the  Commercial  Court  Act,  2015.  The amendments  to  The  Arbitration  and  Conciliation  Act,  1996  have  been

made  in  the  years  2015,  2019  and  2021  for  expediting  the  speedy resolution of disputes.

Under The Commercial Courts Act, 2015, there is a provision for case management  hearing,  which  provides  for  an  efficient,  effective  and purposeful judicial management of a case so as to achieve a timely and qualitative  resolution  of  a  dispute.  It  assists  in  early  identification  of disputed  issues  of  facts  and  law,  establishment  of  procedural  calendar for  the  life  of  the  case  and  the  exploration  of  possibilities  of  the resolution of the dispute.

Another  novel  feature  introduced  for  the  commercial  courts  is  the system of color banding, which limits the number of adjournments that can be granted in any commercial matter to three and alerts the judges about listing of the cases in accordance with their stage of pendency.

- ix. Lok Adalat is an important Alternative Disputes Resolution Mechanism available  to  common  people,  where  the  disputes/  cases  pending  in  the court of law or at pre-litigation stage are settled/ compromised amicably. Under The Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987, an award made by a Lok Adalat is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final and binding  on  all  parties  and  no  appeal  lies  against  it  before  any  court. National Lok Adalats are organized simultaneously in all Taluks, Districts and High Courts on a pre-fixed date.

The details of the cases disposed of in National Lok Adalats during the last four years are as under: -

| Years             | Pre-litigation Cases   | Pending Cases   | Grand Total   |
|-------------------|------------------------|-----------------|---------------|
| 2021              | 72,06,294              | 55,81,743       | 1,27,88,037   |
| 2022              | 3,10,15,215            | 1,09,10,795     | 4,19,26,010   |
| 2023              | 7,10,32,980            | 1,43,09,237     | 8,53,42,217   |
| 2024              | 8,70,19,059            | 1,75,07,060     | 10,45,26,119  |
| 2025(up to March) | 2,58,28,368            | 50,82,181       | 3,09,10,549   |
| Total             | 22,21,01,916           | 5,33,91,016     | 27,54,92,932  |

- x. The  Government  launched  the  Tele-Law  programme  in  2017,  which provides  an  effective  and  reliable  e-interface  platform  connecting  the needy and disadvantaged sections seeking legal advice and consultation with panel lawyers via video conferencing, telephone and chat facilities available  at  the  Common  Service  Centres  (CSCs)  situated  in  Gram Panchayats and through Tele-Law mobile App.
- xi. Efforts have been made to institutionalize pro bono culture and pro bono lawyering  in  the  country.  A  technological  framework  has  been  put  in place where advocates volunteering to give their time and services for pro bono  work  can  register  as  Pro  Bono  Advocates  on  Nyaya  Bandhu (Android & iOS and Apps). Nyaya Bandhu Services are also available on UMANG Platform. Pro Bono Panel of advocates has been initiated in 23 High Courts at the State/UT level. Pro Bono Clubs have been started in 109 Law Schools to instill Pro Bono culture in budding lawyers.
3. (c): To  educate  normal  public  about  their  legal  rights  and  to  promote Legal  aid  services.  The  National  Legal  Services  Authority  (NALSA)  was constituted under the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987 to provide free legal services to the weaker sections of the society including beneficiaries covered under Section 12 of the LSA Act, 1987, which aims to

*Percentage-wise break-up of Tele - Law Data

| Till 30 th June, 2025   | Cases Registered    | %wise Break Up      | Advice Enabled      | %wise Break Up      |
|-------------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
| Gender -wise            | Gender -wise        | Gender -wise        | Gender -wise        | Gender -wise        |
| Female                  | 44,81,170           | 39.58%              | 44,21,450           | 39.55%              |
| Male                    | 68,39,728           | 60.42%              | 67,58,085           | 60.45%              |
| Caste Category-wise     | Caste Category-wise | Caste Category-wise | Caste Category-wise | Caste Category-wise |
| General                 | 26,89,371           | 23.76%              | 26,48,100           | 23.69%              |
| OBC                     | 35,64,430           | 31.49%              | 35,16,236           | 31.45%              |
| SC                      | 35,27,303           | 31.16%              | 34,90,737           | 31.22%              |
| ST                      | 15,39,794           | 13.60%              | 15,24,462           | 13.64%              |
| Total                   | 1,13,20,898         |                     | 1,11,79,535         |                     |

ensure that the opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities. The details of beneficiaries under various  activities/programmes  undertaken  by  Legal  Services  Authorities during the last three years are as under:

| Year    | Persons benefited through Legal aid and advice   |
|---------|--------------------------------------------------|
| 2022-23 | 12,14,769                                        |
| 2023-24 | 15,50,164                                        |
| 2024-25 | 16,57,527                                        |
| Total   | 44,22,460                                        |

The legal awareness programmes are held across the country by Legal Service  Authorities  in  regard  to  various  laws  and  schemes  relating  to children,  labourers,  victims  of  disaster,  SC  and  ST,  persons  suffering  from disability,  etc.  The  Legal  Services  Authorities  also  prepare  booklets  and pamphlets in simple language on various laws which are distributed amongst the  people.  The  details  of  legal  awareness  programs  organized  by  Legal Service Authorities during the last three years are as under:

| Year    | Legal Awareness programmes organised   | Persons attended   |
|---------|----------------------------------------|--------------------|
| 2022-23 | 4,90,055                               | 6,75,17,665        |
| 2023-24 | 4,30,306                               | 4,49,22,092        |
| 2024-25 | 4,62,988                               | 3,72,32,850        |
| Total   | 13,83,349                              | 14,96,72,607       |

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