Lok Sabha Question No. 764 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-11-29
Subject: District Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Shri Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 764

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 29 TH  NOVEMBER, 2024

## District Courts

## 764. SHRI SAPTAGIRI SANKAR ULAKA:

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

(a) the steps taken/proposed to be taken to address the issues of inadequate infrastructure, representation, and resources in district courts across the country;

(b)  whether  the  Government  has  assessed  the  representation  of  various  communities within the district courts' judiciary and support staff, and initiatives to improve diversity in hiring practices, if so, the details thereof;

(c)  the  status  of  filling  vacant  positions  for  judicial  and  non-judicial  staff  in  district courts, State-wise,

(d) whether Government is planning for recruitment drives to address these gaps, if so, the details thereof;

(e)  the  breakdown  of  infrastructure  gaps  in  district  courts,  including  issues  such  as limited courtroom space, IT facilities, and fire safety equipment, along with the planned measures to address these deficiencies, State-wise; and

(f)  the  plan  of  Government  to  improve  access  to  essential  amenities  for  support  staff, such as common rooms, attached toilets, and computer facilities, to ensure a conducive working environment?

## 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): The Central Government has demonstrated its commitment towards modernizing  the  judiciary  by  supporting  development  of  physical  infrastructure  along with digital infrastructure and resources through its Schemes/initiatives.

The Government has been implementing the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for development of  infrastructure  facilities  for  the  judiciary  since  1993-94  to  augment  the resources of the State Governments for the construction of court buildings and residential accommodations of judicial officers in the district and the subordinate courts. There are three other components covered under the scheme, viz., lawyers' halls, toilet complexes and  digital  computer  rooms  for  the  convenience  of  lawyers  and  litigants.  While  the development of infrastructure in district courts is primarily the responsibility of the State Governments, the Central Government supplements the resources of the State Government through the said Scheme. As of now, a central share of Rs. 11583.07 crores has been released since the inception of the scheme in 1993-94. As against the sanctioned strength of 25,725 Judicial Officers, 22,515 Court Halls and 21,096 Residential Units are available  in  the  district  and  subordinate  courts  and  3,154  Court  Halls  and  2,619 Residential Units are under construction as on date.

Under  the  eCourts  Project,  Information  and  Communication  Technology  (ICT) enablement  of  courts  is  being  undertaken  to  enhance  judicial  productivity,  thereby making  the  justice  delivery  system  accessible,  cost  effective,  reliable,  and  transparent. The  Government  has  demonstrated  its  commitment  in  modernizing  the  judiciary  with advanced digital infrastructure by significantly increasing budget allocations since 2015. For  Phase  II,  an  amount  of  ₹1670  crore,  a  notable  rise  from  the  ₹639  crore  disbursed during Phase I was allotted. Furthermore, Phase III (2023-2027) has been approved by the Union Cabinet in Sep'2023 at an outlay of ₹7,210 crore, which is over four times the funding for Phase II.

During  Phase  I  (2011  -  2015)  of  the  eCourts  project,  14,249  Courts  were computerized and Local Area Network (LAN) was installed at 13,683 courts. Phase II

(2015  -  2023)  focused  on  ICT  facilitation  of  judicial  services  to  citizens  and  18,735 District  &  Subordinate  courts  were  computerized.  The  components  included  computer hardware,  computerization  of  DSLAs,  Wide  Area  Network  (WAN)  connectivity, trainings  of  stakeholders,  establishment  of  eSewa  Kendra,  etc.  Development  of  an advanced  Customer  Information  System  (CIS)  software,  portals  that  enable  people  to access information about pendency of cases (National Judicial Data Grid) and systems for digital filing and payments, have revolutionized the way public accesses the services provided by the judiciary.

The  ongoing  Phase  III  (2023-2027)  of  the  project  envisages  various  new  digital initiatives,  such  as  establishment  of  Digital  and  Paperless  Courts,  digitization  of  court records,  expansion  of  video  conferencing facilities to courts, jails and  hospitals, expansion of scope of online courts beyond adjudication of traffic violations, saturation of  all  court  complexes  with  eSewa  Kendras,  Cloud-based  data  repository  for  easy retrieval and supporting the digitised court records, live streaming of court proceedings and use of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and its subsets like Optical Character  Recognition  (OCR)  etc.  for  analysis  of  case  pendency,  forecasting  future litigation, etc.

(b) to  (d): The selection and appointment of judicial officers and filling up of vacancies related to support staff falls within the domain of the respective High Courts and the State Governments.  As  per  the  Constitutional  framework,  in  exercise  of  powers  conferred under  proviso  to  Article  309  read  with  Articles  233  and  234  of  the  Constitution,  the respective State Government in consultation with the concerned High Court, frames the rules and regulations regarding the appointment and recruitment of Judicial Officers in the respective State Judicial Service.

Vide its order passed in January 2007 in the Malik Mazhar Sultan case, the Hon'ble Supreme Court, has inter-alia, stipulated specific timelines, which are to be followed by the  States  and  the  respective  High  Courts  for  the  recruitment  process  of  judges  in subordinate courts.

(e) & (f): Specific information in respect of breakdown of infrastructure gaps in district courts,  including  issues  such  as  limited  courtroom  space,  IT  facilities,  and  fire  safety equipment, is not maintained centrally.

Under the Centrally Sponsored  Scheme for  development of Judicial Infrastructure, the  Government  of  India  supplements  the  resources  of  the  States/UTs.  The  central assistance to the States/UTs is restricted to the budgetary provision available under the scheme  during  the  financial  year.  However,  the  States/UTs  are  at  liberty  to  spend additional amount, as per their requirement from their own resources.

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