Lok Sabha Question No. 1507 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-28
Subject: Development of Infrastructure in Higher Judiciary
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Margani Bharat

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1507

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 28 th JULY, 2023

## Development of Infrastructure in Higher Judiciary

## 1507.  SHRI MARGANI BHARAT:

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

- (a) whether the Government is aware about the state of judicial infrastructure of higher judiciary in India and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of the schemes or programmes introduced to ensure equitable development  of  judicial  infrastructure  of  higher  judiciary  throughout  the country;
- (c) the details of the funds allocated and spent for this purpose during the last five years;
- (d) the details of allocation of funds and expenditure under the schemes and programmes  launched  for  improving  the  access  to  justice  and  for  the introduction of e-Courts throughout the country during the said period; and
- (e) the details of deadlines met and milestones achieved thereunder?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE (SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

(a)  to  (c)    :  Article  214  of  the  Constitution  provides  that  there  shall  be  a  High Court for each State.  Accordingly, every State is entitled to have its own High Court.  However, the States are required to create and provide all the necessary infrastructure facilities such as, Court Buildings, Quarters for the Judges, court officials and staffs.  The State also have to meet all the expenditure for setting up  and  running  of  the  High  Court.  Therefore,  the  primary  responsibility  of development of Infrastructure facilities for High Courts and District & Subordinate judiciary rests with the State Governments. However, the details of funds  allocated  to  High  Courts  by  the  respective  state  Governments  is  not maintained centrally.

In  order to augment the resources of the State Governments, the Union Government  has  been  implementing  a  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  for Development  of  Infrastructure  Facilities in district  and  subordinate  courts wherein, construction of Court Halls, Residential Units, Toilet Complexes, Digital Computer  Rooms  and  Lawyers'  Hall  is  covered  and  for  which  financial assistance to State Governments /UTs in the prescribed fund sharing pattern is provided.  The scheme is being implemented since 1993-94. The scheme has been further extended from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with a budgetary outlay of Rs. 9000 crore including central share of Rs. 5307 crore. The Central Government has sanctioned Rs. 10,035.35 crore under the Scheme so far since its inception, out  of  which  Rs.  6591.04  crore  (65.68  %)  has  been  released  since  2014-15. The details of funds allocated and spent during the last 5 years is as follows;

|         |         |                  | (₹. in crore)   |
|---------|---------|------------------|-----------------|
| Sl. No. | Year    | Total allocation | Utilised        |
| 1.      | 2018-19 | 650.00           | Full            |
| 2.      | 2019-20 | 982.00           | Full            |
| 3.      | 2020-21 | 593.00           | Full            |
| 4.      | 2021-22 | 770.44           | 684.14          |
| 5.      | 2022-23 | 848.00           | Full            |

Article 146(3) of the Constitution stipulates that the administrative expenses of the Supreme Court shall be charged upon the Consolidated Fund of  India.   The details of allocation made to the Supreme Court of India during last five years is as under:

(₹. in crore)

|   Sl. No. | Year    |   Total allocation | Utilised   |
|-----------|---------|--------------------|------------|
|         1 | 2018-19 |             258.53 | Full       |
|         2 | 2019-20 |             296.56 | Full       |
|         3 | 2020-21 |             328    | Full       |
|         4 | 2021-22 |             350.86 | 341.41     |
|         5 | 2022-23 |             405.47 | 392.78     |

For the construction of additional office complex of the Supreme Court of India at land adjoining to Pragati Maidan, New Delhi the following funds were given through CPWD by the Government:

|   Sl. | Date       | Details of work for which approval was given                                                                                                       |
|-------|------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|     1 | 11.07.2012 | Administrative approval issued to CPWD for construction of additional building complex of Supreme Court at estimated cost of ₹.884.30 crore.       |
|     2 | 27.03.2018 | Administrative approval issued for Pneumatic Waste Disposal System of ₹.6.5 crore to CPWD, within savings in the approved estimate.                |
|     3 | 04.04.2019 | Administrative approval given to CPWD to incur additional expenditure of ₹.16.58 crore (₹.7.19 crore for LAN Component and ₹.9.39 crore for VOIP). |
|     4 | 11.04.2019 | Administrative approval given to CPWD to incur additional expenditure of ₹.30.50 crore for integrated security system.                             |

(d)  &  (e)  The  details  of  allocation  of  funds  and  expenditure  under  eCourts Project  and  Designing  Innovative  Solutions  for  Holistic  Access  to  Justice (DISHA) is as under:

(₹. in crore)

| Sl. No.   | Year    | ECourts*         | ECourts*   | DISHA**          | DISHA**   |
|-----------|---------|------------------|------------|------------------|-----------|
| Sl. No.   | Year    | Total allocation | Utilised   | Total allocation | Utilised  |
| 1.        | 2017-18 | 375.00           | 374.11     | -                | -         |
| 2.        | 2018-19 | 300.00           | 282.76     | -                | -         |
| 3.        | 2019-20 | 180.00           | 179.26     | -                | -         |
| 4.        | 2020-21 | 180.00           | 179.31     | -                | -         |
| 5.        | 2021-22 | 98.82            | 98.30      | 40.00            | 39.96     |
| 6.        | 2022-23 | -                | -          | 48.15            | 47.14     |

* The funds for eCourts Project Phase-II have been exhausted on 31.03.2022.
- ** DISHA scheme has been launched in 2021 for a period of five years (202126).

In  the  digitization  initiatives  under  the  eCourts  scheme,  connectivity  has  been provided  to  99.4%  of  total  Court  Complexes  across  India  through  Wide  Area Network (WAN) Project. The litigants can access case status information of over 23.34 crore cases and more than 22.21 crore orders/judgments, as on 03.07.2023,  on  National  Judicial  Data  Grid  (NJDG).  India  has  emerged  as  a global leader in conducting court hearing through Video Conferencing (VC), with the  District  &  Subordinate  Courts  and  High  Courts  having  heard  around  2.77 crore  cases  till  30.06.2023  using  video  conferencing  system.  The  Hon'ble Supreme Court of India held 4,82,941 hearings through video conferencing till 15.05.2023.  VC  facilities  have  been  enabled  between  3240  court  complexes and corresponding 1272 jails. Live Streaming of court proceedings have been started in 7 High Courts & Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.22 Virtual Courts in 18  States/UTs  have  been  operationalized  to  handle  traffic  challan  cases  with online fine of more than ₹. 419.89 crore realized till 30.06.2023. 20 High Courts have  implemented  e-payments  in  their  respective  jurisdictions.  819  eSewa Kendras  have  been  rolled  out  for  facilitating  the  lawyer  or  litigant  who  need assistance ranging from information to facilitation and eFiling. National Service and Tracking of Electronic Processes (NSTEP) a technology enabled process serving  and  issuing  of  summons  have  been  launched  in  28  States/UTs.  The 'Judgment  Search'  portal  is  being  provided  free  of  cost  to  all  for  search  by Bench, Case Type, Case Number, Year, Petitioner/Respondent Name, Judge Name, Act, Section, Decision: From Date, To Date and Full Text Search.

The  Central  Sector  Scheme  on  Access  to  Justice  titled  'Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice in India' has been launched in  2021  for  a  period  of  five  years  (2021-2026),  with  a  total  budget  of  ₹.  250 crore. The scheme aims to provide citizen-centric delivery of legal services with use of technology. It has three components, namely; (i) Tele- Law- to strengthen pre-litigation  advice  and consultation between the citizens and Panel Lawyers across 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats across the country at the Common Service Centers and is also available via Tele-Law Citizen Mobile APP (on Android & iOS platform) and Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG) portal. Tele-Law has enabled advice to 46 lakh beneficiaries as on 30th  June,2023;  (ii)  The  Nyaya  Bandhu  (Pro  Bono  Legal  Services)  program aims  to  connect  registered  Pro  Bono  lawyers  with  registered  beneficiaries through Nyaya Bandhu Mobile APP (on Android & iOS platform) and UMANG portal. 10,241 Lawyers have enrolled on the Nyaya Bandhu programme as on 30th June, 2023; (iii) Pan India legal literacy and legal awareness programme ensures  legal  empowerment  of  citizens  through  various  State  agencies  and National  Law  school's,  etc.,  benefitting  approx.  4  Lakh  participants  through various initiatives of legal literacy and legal awareness programmes (both online and physical mode).

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