Lok Sabha Question No. 4725 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-28
Subject: Judicial Reforms
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Dr. Anand Kumar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE

## DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4725 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 28 TH  MARCH, 2025

## JUDICIAL REFORMS

## 4725. DR. ANAND KUMAR:

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

- (a)  whether the Government has introduced any reforms to reduce the pendency of cases in the courts across the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether there are plans to set up fast-track courts for cases related to women's  safety and cybercrime in Uttar Pradesh, particularly in Bahraich and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the Government  is  considering increasing the use of technology to improve judicial efficiency and transparency and if so, the details thereof;
- (d)  whether  any  measures  are  being  taken  to  provide  free  legal  aid  to marginalized communities and ensure easy access to justice; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof along with the number of people provided free legal aid in thecountry in the last three years?

## 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): Disposal of pending cases in a time bound manner is within the domain of the judiciary. However, the Central Government has unwavering commitment

towards speedy disposal of cases and reducing pendency as mandated under Article 21 of the Constitution. To this end, the Government has undertaken several initiatives to create an ecosystem that facilitates the faster disposal of cases by the judiciary. Some of these initiatives are as follows:

- i. National  Mission  for  Justice  Delivery  and  Legal  Reforms: The 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 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. Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary: 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 date, Rs. 11886.29 crores have  been  released  since  the  inception  of  the  Centrally  Sponsored Scheme  (CSS)  for  Development  of  Infrastructure  Facilities  for  the Judiciary  in  1993-94.  The  number  of  court  halls  has  increased  from 15,818 as on 30.06.2014 to 22,062 as on 28.02.2025, and the number of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 19,775 as on 28.02.2025, under this scheme.

- iii. Judicial Appointments: The Government has been regularly filling up vacancies of Judges in the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts. From  01.05.2014  to  06.03.2025,  66  Judges  were  appointed  in  the Supreme Court.  1024  new  Judges  were  appointed  and  788  Additional Judges were made permanent in the High Courts during the same period. The sanctioned strength of Judges of the High Courts has been increased from 906 in May, 2014 to 1122 till now. The sanctioned and working strength  of  judicial  officers  in  District  and  Subordinate  Courts  has increased as under:

| As on      | Sanctioned Strength   | Working Strength   |
|------------|-----------------------|--------------------|
| 31.12.2013 | 19,518                | 15,115             |
| 28.02.2025 | 25,786                | 20,511             |

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  Governments  and  High Courts concerned.

- iv. Arrears  Committees: 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  been  set  up  under  District  Courts  as well.
- v. Legislative  Amendments: 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.
- vi. Promotion of Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): Alternate Dispute Resolution methods have been promoted whole heartedly. Accordingly,

the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 was amended in August, 2018 making Pre-institution  Mediation  and  Settlement (PIMS)  mandatory  in  case 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.

Under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, there is 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 fact 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.

(b): Establishment  of  subordinate  Courts,  including  Fast  Track  Courts  for cyber-crime  and  women's  safety,  lies  within  the  domain  of  the  State/UT Governments  who  set  up  such  courts  as  per  their  needs  and  resources,  in consultation with their respective High Courts.

The 14 th   Finance Commission had recommended for setting up of 1800 Fast Track Courts (FTCs) during 2015-2020 for speedy trial of specific cases of  heinous  nature,  civil  cases  related  to  women,  children,  senior  citizen, disabled  persons,  persons  infected  with  terminal  ailments  etc.  and  property related  cases  pending  for  more  than  5  years.  The  Finance  Commission had further urged the State Governments to utilize enhanced fiscal space available through  tax  devolution  for  this  purpose.  The  Union  Government  has  also

urged  the  State  Governments  to  allocate  funds  for  the  setting  up  of  FTCs, from the financial year 2015-16 onward. As per information made available by High Courts, 860 FTCs are functional in the country as on 31.01.2025. In the State of Uttar Pradesh, there are 373 FTCs functional in the State as on 31.01.2025.

Further, in pursuance to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Central  Government  is  implementing  a  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  for setting up Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) including exclusive POCSO (ePOCSO)  courts  since  October,  2019  for  expeditious  trial  and  disposal  of pending  cases  pertaining  to  Rape  and  Protection  of  Children  from  Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in a time-bound manner. As per the data submitted by the  High  Courts,  745  FTSCs  including  404  exclusive  POCSO  (e-POCSO) courts are functional in 30 States/UTs, as on 31.01.2025. These courts have disposed of more than 3,06,000 cases since the inception of the Scheme while more than 2,03,000 cases are pending. In the State of Uttar Pradesh there are 218 functional FTSCs in the State with 3 functional FTSCs in Bahraich, as on 31.01.2025.

(c): The  Government  is  committed  to  leveraging  technology  to  enhance judicial efficiency, transparency, and accessibility. In this regard, the eCourts Mission Mode Project is a key initiative  aimed  at  modernizing the  judicial system  through  the  adoption  of  digital  infrastructure  and  citizen-centric services.  Under  the  Phase  I  &  II  of  the  e-Courts  Mission  Mode  Project, information and communication technology (ICT) had been leveraged for IT enablement of District and Subordinate Courts. 18,735 District and Subordinate Courts were computerized till 2023. WAN connectivity has been provided to 99.5% of court complexes. Video conferencing facility has been enabled between 3,240 court complexes and 1,272 corresponding jails. As on 31.01.2025, 1572 eSewa Kendras in District Courts and 39 eSewa Kendras in High  Courts  have  been  made  functional  to  bridge  the  digital  divide  by

providing  citizen  centric  services  to  lawyers  and  litigants.  28  virtual  courts have  been  set  up  in  21  States/UTs.  As  on  31.01.2025,  these  courts  have handled more than 6.66 crore cases and realized more than Rs. 714.99 crores in  fines.  The  Cabinet  on  13.09.2023  has  approved  eCourts  Phase-III  at  an outlay of Rs.7,210 crore. Taking the gains of Phase-I and Phase-II to the next level, the e-Courts Phase-III aims to usher in 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),  Block Chain,  etc.  to  make  justice  delivery  progressively  more  robust,  easy  and accessible to all the stakeholders.

(d) & (e): Measures  taken  by  the  Government  to  provide  free  legal  aid  to marginalized communities and ensure easy access to justice are as follows:

- National  Legal  Services  Authority  (NALSA)  was  constituted  under  the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987 to provide free and competent legal  services  to  the  weaker  sections  of  the  society  including  beneficiaries covered under Section 12 of the Act. This Act ensures that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes. For  this  purpose,  the  legal  services  institutions  have  been  set  up  from  the Taluk level to the Supreme Court. The activities/programmes undertaken by Legal  Services  Authorities  include  legal  aid  and  advice;  legal  awareness programmes; legal services/empowerment camps; legal services clinics; legal literacy  clubs;  Lok  Adalats  and  implementation  of  victim  compensation scheme.
- The  details  of  number  of  persons  benefited  through  legal  aid  services provided by the Legal Services Institutions in the country during the last three financial years; 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 (upto December, 2024) are as follows: -

| Year                        | Number of Beneficiaries   |
|-----------------------------|---------------------------|
| 2022-23                     | 12,14,769                 |
| 2023-24                     | 15,50,164                 |
| 2024-25(upto December 2024) | 11,79,800                 |
| TOTAL                       | 39,44,733                 |

- In 2021, a comprehensive, pan-India scheme titled 'Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice in India' (DISHA) was launched for a period of five years (2021- 2026) at an outlay of Rs. 250 crores. The DISHA scheme aims to provide easy, accessible, affordable and citizen-centric legal services  through  Tele-Law,  Nyaya  Bandhu  (Pro  Bono  Legal  Services)  and Legal Literacy and Legal awareness programmes. Under the DISHA scheme, Tele-  Law  connects  citizens  with  the  lawyers  through  mobile  app  'TeleLaw'  and  Toll  Free  number  for  rendering  pre-litigation  advice;  Nyaya Bandhu  (Pro  Bono  services)  facilitates  registered  beneficiaries  to  avail  pro bono legal representation in courts and under the Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness  Programme,  citizens  are  empowered  to  know,  understand  and avail  their  legal  rights,  duties  and  entitlements.  Till  28 th February  2025, DISHA scheme through its various programmes has outreached approximately 2.10 crore beneficiaries in the country.
- Further,  Tele-  Law  services  has  impacted  women  (39.4  %),  General (24%),  OBCs  (31%),  SCs  (31%)  and  STs  (14%)  of  its  total  1,08,69,661 beneficiaries. Moreover, in order to increase the outreach, the Tele Law web portal  and  Tele-  Law  application  has  been  translated  in  22  scheduled languages. Special endeavours have also been made to increase its outreach through both print and digital media. Further, special efforts have been made to  integrate  Tele-Law  with  Nyaya  Bandhu  (Pro  Bono  Legal  Services) platform for pre-litigation advice and legal representation in courts. Toll-Free number for citizens through 14454 has been operationalized for instant legal advice and counselling.

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