Lok Sabha Question No. 222 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-02
Subject: Functional e-Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Janardan Singh Sigriwal, Aparajita Sarangi, Chandra Prakash Joshi

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 222

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 2 nd  FEBRUARY, 2024

## Functional e-Courts

## 222. SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL:

## SHRIMATI APARAJITA SARANGI:

## SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH JOSHI:

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

- the number of e-Courts functional across the country at present and those
- (a) under development, State/UT-wise;
- (b) the details of the funds sanctioned, allocated and utilized for the e-Court project  during  the  last  three  years  and  the  current  year  across  the country,State-wise specially Bihar and Rajasthan;
- whether the Government has set any target for setting up such courts in
- (c) the country;
- (d) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  withachievements  made  so  far  in  this regard;
- (e)
- the number of courts with requisite digital infrastructure; and
- (f) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  under  various  phases  of  e-Court project and the status ofthe project, State-wise?

## 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):  The  High  Court  wise  details  of  functional  eCourts  in  the  country  has  been attached at Annexure-I.

(b):  Funds  released  and  utilised  during  the  last  three  years  across  the  country including Bihar and Rajasthan are given in Annexure-II.

(c)  to  (f):  As  part  of  the  National  eGovernance  Plan,  the  eCourts  Mission  Mode Project  is  under  implementation  for  Information  and  Communication  Technology (ICT) development of the Indian Judiciary based on the 'National Policy and Action Plan  for  Implementation  of  Information  and  Communication  Technology  in  the Indian Judiciary'. eCourts project is being implemented by Department of Justice in association  with  eCommittee  Supreme  Court  of  India.    Phase  I  of  the  eCourts project  was  implemented  between    2011-2015.  Phase  II  of  the  project  extended from  2015-2023.  The  Government  has  taken  the  following  e-initiatives  to  make justice accessible and available for all: -

- i. Under  the  Wide  Area  Network  (WAN)  Project,  connectivity  has  been provided to 99.4% (2977 out of earmarked 2994) of total Court Complexes across India with 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps bandwidth speed.
- ii. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) is a database of orders, judgments, and cases, created as an online platform under the eCourts Project. It provides information  relating  to  judicial  proceedings/decisions  of  all  computerized district  and  subordinate  courts  of  the  country.  Litigants  can  access  case status information in respect of over 24.79 crore cases and more than 24.53 crore orders / judgments (as on 02.01.2024).
- iii. Case  Information  Software  (CIS)  based  on  customized  Free  and  OpenSource Software (FOSS) has been developed.  Currently CIS National Core Version 3.2 is being implemented in District Courts and the CIS National Core Version 1.0 is being implemented for the High Courts.
- iv. A new software patch and court user manual for COVID-19 management has also been developed.  This tool will help in smart scheduling of cases thereby  enabling  judicial  officers  to  retain  urgent  cases  and  adjourn  cases

not urgent on cause list.   A user manual for this patch has also been issued for the ease of the stakeholders.

- v. As part  of  eCourts  project,  7  platforms  have  been  created  to  provide  real time information on case status, cause lists, judgements etc. to lawyers/Litigants  through  SMS  Push  and  Pull  (4,74,371  SMS  sent  daily), Email (6,06,818 sent daily), multilingual and tactile eCourts services Portal (35  lakh  hits  daily),  JSC  (Judicial  Service  centres)  and  Info  Kiosks.    In addition,  Electronic  Case  Management  Tools  (ECMT)  have  been  created with  Mobile  App  for  lawyers  (total  2.15  downloads  till  31.12.2023)  and JustIS app for judges ((19,461 downloads till 31.12.2023).
- vi. India  has  emerged  as  a  global  leader  in  conducting  court  hearing  through Video Conferencing. The District & Subordinate courts heard  2,17,99,976 cases  while  the  High  Courts  heard  82,76,595  cases  (totalling  3crore)  till 31.12.2023 using video conferencing system. The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India held 6,24,427 hearings through video conferencing till 04.01.2024. VC  facilities  have  also  been  enabled  between  3240  court  complexes  and corresponding 1272 jails. Funds for 2506 VC cabins and VC equipment for 14,443  courtrooms  have  also  been  released.  1500  VC  licenses  have  been procured to promote virtual hearings.
- vii. Live  Streaming  of  court  proceedings  has  been  started  in  High  Courts  of Gujarat,  Gauhati,  Orissa,  Karnataka,  Jharkhand,  Patna,  Madhya  Pradesh &Hon'ble Supreme Court of India thus allowing media and other interested persons to join the proceedings.
- viii. 25  Virtual  Courts  in  20  States/UTs  have  been  operationalized  to  handle traffic  challan  cases.  More  than  4.24crore  cases  have  been  handled  by  25 virtual  courts  and  in  more  than 47  lakhs  (47,51,482)  cases  online  fine  of more than Rs. 492.79 crore has been realized till 31.12.2023.
- ix. New e-filing system (version 3.0) has been rolled out for the electronic filing of legal papers  with upgraded  features. Draft eFiling rules  have  been

formulated  and  circulated  to  the  High  Courts  for  adoption. A  total  of  21 High Courts have adopted the model rules of e-Filing as on 31.12.2023.

- x. e-Filing  of  cases  requires  the  option  for  electronic  payment  of  fees  which includes  court  fees,  fines  and  penalties  which  are  directly  payable  to  the Consolidated  Fund.  A  total  of  21  High  Courts  have  implemented  epayments  in  their  respective  jurisdictions.  The  Court  Fees  Act  has  been amended in 23 High Courts till 31.12.2023.
- xi. To bridge the digital divide, 880eSewa Kendras have been rolled out with the  intention  of  facilitating  the  lawyer  or  litigant  who  needs  any  kind  of assistance ranging from information to facilitation and eFiling. It also assists the litigants in accessing online e-Courts services and acts as a saviour for those who cannot afford the technology or are located in far-flung areas. It also aids to addresses the challenges caused by illiteracy among citizens at large.  It  will  provide  benefits  in  saving  time,  avoidance  of  exertion, travelling long distances, and saving cost by offering facilities of e-filing of cases across the country, to conduct  the hearing virtually, scanning, accessing e-Courts services etc.
- xii. National  Service  and  Tracking  of  Electronic  Processes  (NSTEP)  has  been launched for technology enabled process serving and issuing of summons. It has currently been implemented in 28 States/ UTs.
- xiii. A  new  'Judgment  Search'  portal  has  been  started  with  features  such  as search  by  Bench,  Case  Type,  Case  Number,  Year,  Petitioner/  Respondent Name, Judge Name, Act, Section, Decision: From Date, To Date and Full Text Search. This facility is being provided free of cost to all.

The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for eCourts Phase-III was approved by the eCommittee, Supreme Court of India on 21.10.2022. The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) accorded approval to the Phase-III of eCourts Project in its meeting  held  on  23.02.2023.  The  Union  Cabinet  in  its  meeting  held  on 13.09.2023  approved  eCourts  Phase-III  with  a  budgetary  outlay  of  Rs.7210

crore. Subsequently, Rs. 225 crore has been released for eCourts Phase III by the Ministry of Finance from the Contingency Fund, out of which Rs. 102.50 crore has been allocated to BSNL and NIC and Rs. 110.24 crore has been suballocated to various High Courts for scanning and digitization, e-Sewa Kendras, IT  Hardware  for  existing  and  newly  setup  courts,  solar  power  backup  etc. eCourts  Phase  III  envisages  state  of  the  art  and  latest  Cloud  based  data repository for easy retrieval; paperless courts; video conferencing facilities to be expanded to also cover district hospitals; Live Streaming of court proceedings and expansion of the scope of Virtual Courts. The project will help provide a smoother user experience by building a 'smart' ecosystem. Registries will have less data entry and minimal file scrutiny facilitating better decisionmaking  and  policy  planning.  The  eCourts  Phase-III  may  thus  prove  to  be  a game  changer  in  ensuring  ease  of  justice  by  making  the  Court  experience convenient, inexpensive and hassle free to all the citizens of the country.

*****

## Annexure-I

Statement  referred  to  in  reply  of  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  222  for  02/02/2024 regarding Functional e-Courts. The details of operational eCourts in the country are as under:

| S.No   | High Court                 | State                                                           |   Courts |
|--------|----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|----------|
| 1      | Allahabad                  | Uttar Pradesh                                                   |     2222 |
| 2      | Andhra Pradesh             | Andhra Pradesh                                                  |      617 |
| 3      | Bombay                     | Dadra and Nagar Haveli                                          |        3 |
| 3      | Bombay                     | Daman and Diu                                                   |        2 |
| 3      | Bombay                     | Goa                                                             |       39 |
| 3      | Bombay                     | Maharashtra                                                     |     2157 |
| 4      | Calcutta                   | Andaman &Nicobar Islands                                        |       14 |
| 4      | Calcutta                   | West Bengal                                                     |      827 |
| 5      | Chhattisgarh               | Chhattisgarh                                                    |      434 |
| 6      | Delhi                      | Delhi                                                           |      681 |
| 7      | Gauhati                    | Arunachal Pradesh                                               |       28 |
| 7      | Gauhati                    | Assam                                                           |      408 |
| 7      | Gauhati                    | Mizoram                                                         |       69 |
| 7      | Gauhati                    | Nagaland                                                        |       37 |
| 8      | Gujarat                    | Gujarat                                                         |     1268 |
| 9      | Himachal Pradesh           | Himachal Pradesh                                                |      162 |
| 10     | Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh | Union Territory of Jammu& Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh |      218 |
| 11     | Jharkhand                  | Jharkhand                                                       |      447 |
| 12     | Karnataka                  | Karnataka                                                       |     1031 |
| 13     | Kerala                     | Kerala                                                          |      484 |
| 13     | Kerala                     | Lakshadweep                                                     |        3 |
| 14     | Madhya Pradesh             | Madhya Pradesh                                                  |     1363 |
| 15     | Madras                     | Puducherry                                                      |       24 |
| 15     | Madras                     | Tamil Nadu                                                      |     1124 |
| 16     | Manipur                    | Manipur                                                         |       38 |
| 17     | Meghalaya                  | Meghalaya                                                       |       42 |
| 18     | Orissa                     | Odisha                                                          |      686 |
| 19     | Patna                      | Bihar                                                           |     1142 |
| 20     | Punjab &Haryana            | Chandigarh                                                      |       30 |
| 20     | Punjab &Haryana            | Haryana                                                         |      500 |
| 20     | Punjab &Haryana            | Punjab                                                          |      541 |
| 21     | Rajasthan                  | Rajasthan                                                       |     1240 |
| 22     | Sikkim                     | Sikkim                                                          |       23 |
| 23     | Telangana                  | Telangana                                                       |      476 |
| 24     | Tripura                    | Tripura                                                         |       84 |
| 25     | Uttarakhand                | Uttarakhand                                                     |      271 |
|        | Total                      |                                                                 |    18735 |

## Annexure-II

Statement referred to in reply of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 222 for 02/02/2024 regarding the funds released during the last three years across the country including Bihar and Rajasthan is:

| S.No.   | High Courts                 | 2019-2020      | 2019-2020      | 2020-21        | 2020-21        | 2021-22        | 2021-22        |
|---------|-----------------------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
| S.No.   | High Courts                 | Released (Cr.) | Utilized (Cr.) | Released (Cr.) | Utilized (Cr.) | Released (Cr.) | Utilized (Cr.) |
| 1       | Allahabad                   | 15.04          | 13.63          | 13.79          | 10.22          | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 2       | Andhra Pradesh              | 0.00           | 0.00           | 1.96           | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 3       | Bombay                      | 0.00           | 0.00           | 8.86           | 8.86           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 4       | Calcutta                    | 0.00           | 0.00           | 4.93           | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 5       | Chhattisgarh                | 4.44           | 4.44           | 2.34           | 2.34           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 6       | Delhi                       | 0.00           | 0.00           | 3.00           | 2.85           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 7       | Gauhati (Arunachal Pradesh) | 0.98           | 0.98           | 1.52           | 1.52           | 1.26           | 1.18           |
| 8       | Gauhati (Assam)             | 13.68          | 13.40          | 6.11           | 1.78           | 3.49           | 3.46           |
| 9       | Gauhati (Mizoram)           | 0.51           | 0.43           | 0.72           | 0.69           | 0.30           | 0.25           |
| 10      | Gauhati (Nagaland)          | 0.70           | 0.70           | 0.83           | 0.83           | 0.84           | 0.84           |
| 11      | Gujarat*                    | 0.00           | 0.00           | 3.48           | 0.83           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 12      | Himachal Pradesh            | 0.00           | 0.00           | 2.00           | 1.78           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 13      | Jammu& Kashmir and Ladakh   | 0.00           | 0.00           | 1.00           | 1.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 14      | Jharkhand                   | 5.53           | 0.35           | 2.98           | 0.48           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 15      | Karnataka                   | 9.15           | 9.15           | 4.29           | 4.29           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 16      | Kerala                      | 0.00           | 0.00           | 2.83           | 2.83           | 1.58           | 1.58           |
| 17      | Madhya Pradesh              | 11.21          | 11.06          | 6.28           | 6.21           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 18      | Madras                      | 0.00           | 0.00           | 4.73           | 2.46           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 19      | Manipur                     | 0.61           | 0.60           | 1.30           | 1.28           | 0.76           | 0.75           |
| 20      | Meghalaya                   | 0.92           | 0.09           | 2.32           | 0.51           | 2.23           | 0.85           |
| 21      | Orissa                      | 13.46          | 13.09          | 3.37           | 3.31           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 22      | Patna                       | 7.08           | 6.40           | 5.44           | 5.30           | 0.00           | 0.00           |

| 23    | Punjab& Haryana   |   0.00 |   0.00 |   4.55 |   4.55 |   0.00 |   0.00 |
|-------|-------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| 24    | Rajasthan         |   1.29 |   1.29 |  10.58 |  10.57 |   1.62 |   1.62 |
| 25    | Sikkim            |   1.61 |   0.68 |   1.01 |   0.92 |   0.77 |   0    |
| 26    | Telangana         |   0    |   0    |   1.79 |   0    |   0    |   0    |
| 27    | Tripura           |   2.24 |   2.19 |   4.44 |   4.05 |   0.96 |   0.78 |
| 28    | Uttarakhand       |   0    |   0    |   1.28 |   0.12 |   0    |   0    |
| Total | Total             |  88.44 |  78.5  | 107.74 |  80.57 |  13.8  |  11.31 |

*Gujarat High Court surrendered Rs.13.12 crore. Total utilization included surrendered funds.

NOTE 1: For year the 2022-2023 no funds were released as the total outlay of Phase II amounting to Rs. 1670 crore had been exhausted and the DPR of Phase -III eCourts was under the process of approval.

NOTE 2: eCourts Phase-III was approved by the Union Cabinet on 13.09.2023 and Ministry of Finance released Rs. 225 crore from the Contingency Fund of India on 05.10.2023 of which Rs. 102.50 crore  has  been  allocated  to  BSNL  and  NIC  and  Rs.  110.24  crore  has  been  allocated  to various High Courts. Recently on 08.01.2024 Rs. 600 crore under RE 2023-24 has been received for  further  allocation  to  different  High  Courts  as  per  the  plan  approved  by  the  eCommittee  of Supreme of India.