Lok Sabha Question No. 5690 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-04
Subject: Disposal Cases in Fast Track Court
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. 5690 ANSWERED ON - 04/04/2025

## DISPOSAL CASES IN FAST TRACK COURT

## 5690. Smt. Malvika Devi:

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

(a) the steps taken by the Government for the disposal of the cases that are in queue for a long time;

(b) the total number of cases solved in the fast track courts during the previous year;

(c) the manner in which the Government plans to implement and make justice accessible to the marginalized communities;

(d) the average number of cases related to cyber crime registered annually in the country along with the number of such cases resolved within a year; and

(e) the manner/mode of resolution of such cases?

## 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): Disposal of pending court cases 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  taken  several initiatives  to  provide  an  ecosystem  for  faster  disposal  of  cases  by  the  judiciary.  Some  of  these initiatives are as under:

- I. 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  reengineering  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  28.02.2025,  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. Further, under 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 Phase-III of the eCourts Project 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.
- IV. 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 20.03.2025, 67 Judges were appointed in the Supreme Court. 1030 new Judges were appointed and 791 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.

- 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 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 28.02.2025, 857 Fast Track Courts are functional across the country which have disposed of 11,74,885 cases in 2024. To fast-track criminal cases involving elected MPs / MLAs,  ten  (10)  Special  Courts  are  functional  in  nine  (9)  States/UTs.  Further,  the  Central

Government has approved a 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 28.02.2025, 745 FTSCs including 404 exclusive POCSO (ePOCSO) Courts are functional in 30 States/UTs across the country which have disposed of 85,595 cases in 2024.

- 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 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. 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.  Amendments  to  The  Arbitration  and Conciliation  Act,  1996  have  been  made  in  the  years  2015,  2019  &  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 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.

- IX. 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.

(c): The Government remains committed to make justice accessible to marginalized communities. Some of the measures taken by the Government 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.

· 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  28th 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.

(d) & (e): The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles and publishes crime statistics in  its  annual  publication 'Crime  in  India.' The  latest  available  report  pertains  to  the  year  2022. According  to  data  provided  in  the  last  three  reports  (2020,2021  &  2022),  the  average  number  of cyber  crime  cases  registered  annually  during  the  period  2020  to  2022  is  56,300.  During  the  same period, the average number of cyber crime cases disposed of by courts annually stands at 6,081.

'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of  India.  The  States/UTs  are  primarily  responsible  for  the  prevention,  detection,  investigation  and prosecution of crimes including cyber crime through their Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). The Central Government supplements the initiatives of the States/UTs through advisories and financial assistance under various schemes for capacity building of their LEAs.

To  strengthen  the  mechanism  to  deal  with  cyber  crimes,  including  cyber  crimes  against women and children in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, the Central Government has taken steps which, inter-alia, include the following:

i. The Ministry of Home Affairs has set up the 'Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre' (I4C) as  an  attached  office  to  deal  with  all  types  of  cyber  crimes  in  the  country,  in  a  coordinated  and comprehensive manner.

ii. The 'National  Cyber Crime Reporting Portal' (NCRP) (https://cybercrime.gov.in) has been launched, as a part of the I4C, to enable public to report incidents pertaining to all types of cyber crimes,  with  special  focus  on  cyber  crimes  against  women  and  children.  Cyber  crime  incidents reported on this portal, their conversion into FIRs and subsequent action thereon are handled by the State/UT Law Enforcement Agencies concerned as per the provisions of the law.

iii. The  'Citizen  Financial  Cyber  Fraud  Reporting  and  Management  System',  under  I4C,  has been launched in year 2021 for immediate  reporting of financial  frauds  and  to  stop  siphoning  off

funds by the fraudsters. A toll-free Helpline number '1930' has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints.

iv. The  state of the art 'National Cyber  Forensic Laboratory (Investigation)' has been established,  as  a  part  of  the  I4C,  at  New  Delhi  to  provide  early  stage  cyber  forensic  assistance  to Investigating  Officers  (IOs)  of  State/UT  Police.  So  far,  National  Cyber  Forensics  Laboratory (Investigation)  has  provided  its  services  to  State/UT  LEAs  in  around  11,835  cases  pertaining  to cybercrimes.

v. A State of the Art Centre, Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) has been established at I4C where representatives of major banks, Financial Intermediaries, Payment Aggregators, Telecom Service Providers, IT Intermediaries and representatives of States/UTs Law Enforcement Agency are working together for immediate action and seamless cooperation to tackle cybercrime.

vi. Seven Joint Cyber Coordination Teams (JCCTs) have been constituted for Mewat, Jamtara, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Vishakhapatnam, and Guwahati under I4C covering the whole country  based  upon  cybercrime  hotspots/  areas  having  multi-jurisdictional  issues  by  on  boarding States/UTs  to  enhance  the  coordination  framework  among  the  Law  Enforcement  Agencies  of  the States/UTs.  Seven  workshops  were  organized  for  JCCTs  at  Hyderabad,  Ahmedabad,  Guwahati, Vishakhapatnam, Lucknow, Ranchi and Chandigarh.

vii. Samanvaya  Platform  has  been  made  operational  to  serve  as  a  Management  Information System (MIS) platform, data repository and a coordination platform for LEAs for cyber crime data sharing and analytics. It provides analytics based interstate linkages of crimes and criminals, involved in cyber crime complaints in various States/UTs. The module 'Pratibimb' maps locations of criminals and  crime  infrastructure  on  a  map  to  give  visibility  to  jurisdictional  officers.  The  module  also facilitates seeking and receiving of techno-legal assistance by Law Enforcement Agencies from I4C and  other  SMEs.  It  has  lead  to  arrest  of  6,046  accused,  17,185  linkages  and  36,296  Cyber Investigation assistance request.

viii. To spread awareness on cyber crime, the Central Government has taken steps which, interalia,  include;  dissemination  of  messages  through  SMS,  I4C  social  media  account  i.e.  X  (formerly Twitter) (@CyberDost), Facebook(CyberDostI4C), Instagram (cyberDostI4C), Telegram(cyberdosti4c),  Radio  campaign,  caller  tune,  engaged  MyGov  for  publicity  in  multiple mediums, organizing Cyber Safety and Security Awareness weeks in association with States/UTs, publishing of Handbook for Adolescents/Students, newspaper advertisement on digital arrest scam, announcement in Delhi metros on digital arrest and other modus operandi of cyber criminals, use of social media influencers to create special posts on digital arrest, digital displays on railway stations and airports across, etc.

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