Lok Sabha Question No. 5661 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-04
Subject: Digitization in Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Km. Sudha R

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.5661 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 04 TH  APRIL, 2025

## DIGITIZATION IN COURTS

## 5661.  KM. SUDHA R:

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

- (a)  the  total  number  of  civil  and  criminal  cases  that  are  pending  in  the Supreme  Court,  the  High  Courts  and  subordinate  courts  for  more  than  40 years, State-wise and High Court-wise;
- (b)  the  amount  of  fund  allocated,  utilized  for  the  modernization  of  courts, State-wise and High Court-wise;
- (c) the status of documents digitization programme in the country, State-wise and High Court-wise; and
- (d) whether the Government has proposed to create any additional benches of High Courts in the country, if so, the details thereof?

## 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): As  per  the  information  available  on  the  National  Judicial  Data  Grid (NJDG), 03 civil  cases  and  0  criminal  cases  are  pending  for  more  than  40 years before the Supreme Court as on 02.04.2025. Further, a total of 20,093 civil  cases  and  3,506  criminal  cases  are  pending  for  more  than  40  years before  High  Courts  as  on  28.03.2025.  The  details  of  these  cases  are  given

High  Court-wise  at Annexure-I. Furthermore,  4,638  civil  cases  and  5,567 criminal  cases  are  pending  for  more  than  40  years  before  the  Subordinate Courts of the States/UTs as on 28.03.2025. The State/UT-wise details of these cases are at Annexure-II.

(b): 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.Thedetails  of  State-wise  fund  allocation  and  utilizationare  at Annexure-III .

Further, e-Courts Mission Mode project, a Central Sector Scheme for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enablement of the Indian courts is being implemented. It aims at ushering a regime of maximum ease of justice  by  moving  towards  digital,  on-line  and  paperless  courts,  through digitization of the entire court records and bringing in universalization of efiling  /  e-payments  through  saturation  of  all  court  complexes  with  e-Seva Kendras. The Government has demonstrated its commitment in modernizing the  judiciary with  advanced digital infrastructure by significantly increasing budget  allocations  since  2015.  The  Union  Cabinet  in  September,  2023  has approved eCourts Phase III (2023-2027) at an outlay of ₹7,210 crore, which is over  four  times  the  funding  for  Phase  II.  Under  eCourts  Phase  -  III,  an amount of Rs. 1200 crorewasallocated for FY 24-25. The High Court wise expenditure details are at Annexure - IV .

(c): Government  of  India's  resolve  to  promote  digitization  in  the subordinate courts is evident from the significant outlay of Rs. 2038.40 crores

earmarked under the eCourts Project Phase III. Digitization of court records is at  the  core  of  the  Information  and  Communication  Technology  (ICT) enablement  initiatives  in  judicial  domain.For  effective  hearing  of  court proceedings  in  virtual/paperless courts, availability of court records in digitized  form  is  imperative.  Accordingly,  a  sub-committee  was  constituted by the eCommittee, Supreme  Court  of India for preparing a Digital Preservation  Standard  Operating  Procedure  (SOP)  for  scanning,  storage, retrieval, digitization of court records and preservation of legacy data and the same was approved by the Supreme Court on 21 st October 2022.

As per the details provided by the eCommittee, Supreme Court of India, 1,99,49,45,317 pages have been digitized in the High Courts and 2,61,48,64,243  pages  have  been  digitized  in  the  District  Courts,  as  on 28.02.2025. The High Court-wise status of the same is at Annexure V .  The eCommittee, Supreme Court of India and the High Courts are working closely to ensure that scanning and digitization of records at the district level courts are done at an optimum pace.

(d): High CourtBenches are established in accordance with the recommendations made by the Jaswant Singh Commission and the judgment pronounced  by  the  Apex  Court  in  W.P.(C)  No.379  of  2000  and  after  due consideration  of  a  complete  proposal  from  the  State  Government  which  is required to provide necessary financial resources and infrastructural facilities and the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court who is required to look after  the  day-to-day  administration  of  the  High  Court.  The  proposal  should also  have  the  consent  of  the  Governor  of  the  concerned  State.  At  present, there is no complete proposal pending with the Government for setting up of Bench(es) in any High Court.

******

## ANNEXURE-I

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5661 FOR ANSWER ON 04.04.2025 REGARDING 'DIGITIZATION IN COURTS'.

| Sr. No.   | Name of High Court       |   Civil |   Criminal |   Total |
|-----------|--------------------------|---------|------------|---------|
| 1         | Allahabad                |   12368 |       3459 |   15827 |
| 2         | Bombay                   |       8 |          0 |       8 |
| 3         | Calcutta                 |    6127 |         43 |    6170 |
| 4         | Telangana                |     176 |          0 |     176 |
| 5         | Andhra Pradesh           |     129 |          0 |     129 |
| 6         | Gujarat                  |       4 |          0 |       4 |
| 7         | Jammu and Kashmir&Ladakh |       1 |          0 |       1 |
| 8         | Karnataka                |       1 |          0 |       1 |
| 9         | Madhya Pradesh           |       6 |          0 |       6 |
| 10        | Punjab and Haryana       |      33 |          1 |      34 |
| 11        | Rajasthan                |       8 |          3 |      11 |
| 12        | Madras                   |     170 |          0 |     170 |
| 13        | Orissa                   |      48 |          0 |      48 |
| 14        | Patna                    |    1014 |          0 |    1014 |
|           | Total                    |   20093 |       3506 |   23599 |

Source: Data as available on National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) as on 28.03.2025

## ANNEXURE-II

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5661 FOR ANSWER ON 04.04.2025 REGARDING 'DIGITIZATION IN COURTS'.

| Sr No.   | State/UTs         |   Civil |   Criminal |   Both |
|----------|-------------------|---------|------------|--------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    |       4 |         14 |     18 |
| 2        | Assam             |       9 |          0 |      9 |
| 3        | Bihar             |     609 |        568 |   1177 |
| 4        | Chhattisgarh      |       2 |          0 |      2 |
| 5        | Delhi             |      19 |          0 |     19 |
| 6        | Goa               |      49 |          1 |     50 |
| 7        | Gujarat           |       8 |          1 |      9 |
| 8        | Haryana           |       2 |          0 |      2 |
| 9        | Jammu and Kashmir |       3 |          0 |      3 |
| 10       | Jharkhand         |      10 |         13 |     23 |
| 11       | Karnataka         |      22 |          0 |     22 |
| 12       | Kerala            |      18 |          1 |     19 |
| 13       | Madhya Pradesh    |       7 |          2 |      9 |
| 14       | Maharashtra       |     410 |       1287 |   1697 |
| 15       | Manipur           |       0 |          3 |      3 |
| 16       | Meghalaya         |       3 |          6 |      9 |
| 17       | Odisha            |      11 |         74 |     85 |
| 18       | Puducherry        |       2 |          0 |      2 |
| 19       | Punjab            |       1 |          0 |      1 |
| 20       | Rajasthan         |      73 |          1 |     74 |
| 21       | Tamil Nadu        |      19 |          4 |     23 |
| 22       | Telangana         |       1 |          7 |      8 |
| 23       | Tripura           |       1 |         16 |     17 |
| 24       | Uttar Pradesh     |    2735 |        558 |   3293 |
| 25       | West Bengal       |     620 |       3011 |   3631 |
|          | Total             |    4638 |       5567 |  10205 |

Source: Data as available on National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) as on 28.03.2025

## ANNEXURE-III

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  5661  FOR  ANSWER  ON  04.04.2025 REGARDING 'DIGITIZATION IN COURTS'.

| Sl. No.   | States/UTs                         | Total funds (Sanctioned/Allocated Since 1993-94 to F.Y 2024-25 Dated. 28- 02-2025)   | Funds Utilized (Since 1993-94 to F.Y 2024-25 Dated. 28-02-2025)   |
|-----------|------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1.        | Andaman &Nicobar Islands           | 14.34                                                                                | 14.34                                                             |
| 2.        | Andhra Pradesh                     | 272.24                                                                               | 272.24                                                            |
| 3.        | Arunachal Pradesh                  | 97.96                                                                                | 91.42                                                             |
| 4.        | Assam                              | 349.76                                                                               | 349.76                                                            |
| 5.        | Bihar                              | 558.4                                                                                | 558.4                                                             |
| 6.        | Chandigarh                         | 39.01                                                                                | 37.3                                                              |
| 7.        | Chhattisgarh                       | 224.91                                                                               | 224.91                                                            |
| 8.        | Dadar& Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu | 9.38                                                                                 | 9.38                                                              |
| 9.        | Delhi                              | 354.4                                                                                | 344.56                                                            |
| 10.       | Goa                                | 63.01                                                                                | 52.51                                                             |
| 11.       | Gujarat                            | 675.17                                                                               | 675.17                                                            |
| 12.       | Haryana                            | 225.93                                                                               | 225.93                                                            |
| 13.       | Himachal Pradesh                   | 66.24                                                                                | 65                                                                |
| 14.       | Jammu &Kashmir                     | 282.57                                                                               | 269.87                                                            |
| 15.       | Jharkhand                          | 267.57                                                                               | 267.57                                                            |
| 16.       | Karnataka                          | 991.96                                                                               | 991.53                                                            |
| 17.       | Kerala                             | 248.4                                                                                | 229.42                                                            |
| 18.       | Ladakh                             | 8.33                                                                                 | 8.33                                                              |
| 19.       | Lakshadweep                        | 0.51                                                                                 | 0.37                                                              |
| 20.       | Madhya Pradesh                     | 863.71                                                                               | 863.71                                                            |
| 21.       | Maharashtra                        | 1,076.64                                                                             | 1076.64                                                           |
| 22.       | Manipur                            | 101.51                                                                               | 99.51                                                             |
| 23.       | Meghalaya                          | 274.71                                                                               | 274.71                                                            |
| 24.       | Mizoram                            | 103.07                                                                               | 103.07                                                            |
| 25.       | Nagaland                           | 139.25                                                                               | 139.18                                                            |
| 26.       | Odisha                             | 250.25                                                                               | 250.25                                                            |
| 27.       | Puducherry                         | 71.95                                                                                | 65.58                                                             |
| 28.       | Punjab                             | 602                                                                                  | 597.48                                                            |
| 29.       | Rajasthan                          | 528.87                                                                               | 528.87                                                            |
| 30.       | Sikkim                             | 59.57                                                                                | 58.47                                                             |
| 31.       | Tamil Nadu                         | 495.06                                                                               | 467.25                                                            |
| 32.       | Telangana                          | 58.89                                                                                | 58.89                                                             |
| 33.       | Tripura                            | 157.58                                                                               | 141.55                                                            |
| 34.       | Uttar Pradesh                      | 1,756.41                                                                             | 1679.68                                                           |
| 35.       | Uttarakhand                        | 301.94                                                                               | 297.15                                                            |
| 36.       | West Bengal                        | 294.81                                                                               | 292.11                                                            |
|           | Total                              | 11,886.31                                                                            | 11,682.11                                                         |

## ANNEXURE-IV

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  5661  FOR  ANSWER  ON  04.04.2025 REGARDING 'DIGITIZATION IN COURTS'.

| S.No.   | Name of High Court                                            |   Fund Utilised (Rs. In Crore) |
|---------|---------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
| 1       | Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh)                                     |                        51.7791 |
| 2       | Andhra Pradesh                                                |                        31.7379 |
| 3       | Bombay (Maharashtra, Goa, Diu & Daman and Nagar Dadar Haveli) |                        83.1874 |
| 4       | Calcutta (West Bengal)                                        |                        27.6514 |
| 5       | Chhattisgarh                                                  |                        24.1667 |
| 6       | Delhi                                                         |                        48.1893 |
| 7       | Gauhati (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram and Nagaland)      |                        53.7451 |
| 8       | Gujarat                                                       |                        73.2124 |
| 9       | Himachal Pradesh                                              |                         6.8904 |
| 10      | Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh                                     |                        14.5258 |
| 11      | Jharkhand                                                     |                        29.217  |
| 12      | Karnataka                                                     |                        67.4009 |
| 13      | Kerala                                                        |                        32.607  |
| 14      | Madhya Pradesh                                                |                        76.8718 |
| 15      | Madras (Tamil Nadu &Puducherry)                               |                        91.7467 |
| 16      | Manipur                                                       |                         7.5355 |
| 17      | Meghalaya                                                     |                         8.4751 |
| 18      | Orissa (Odisha)                                               |                        53.2409 |
| 19      | Patna (Bihar)                                                 |                        89.5528 |
| 20      | Punjab &Haryana (Punjab, Haryana &Chandigarh)                 |                        26.0111 |
| 21      | Rajasthan                                                     |                        34.7246 |
| 22      | Sikkim                                                        |                         8.9376 |
| 23      | Telangana                                                     |                        28.57   |
| 24      | Tripura                                                       |                         7.0494 |
| 25      | Uttarakhand                                                   |                        19.9543 |
|         | Total                                                         |                       996.98   |

## ANNEXURE-V

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  5661  FOR  ANSWER  ON  04.04.2025 REGARDING 'DIGITIZATION IN COURTS'.

| S. No.   | High Court (State/UT)                                         | Total No. of Pages digitized in High Court up to Current month   | Total No. of pages digitized (including Taluka Courts) under the concerned High Court   |
|----------|---------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1.       | Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh)                                     | 53,47,89,659                                                     | 97,45,60,893                                                                            |
| 2.       | Andhra Pradesh                                                | 1,42,04,781                                                      | 2,56,91,977                                                                             |
| 3.       | Bombay (Maharashtra, Goa, Diu & Daman and Nagar Dadar Haveli) | 3,46,09,102                                                      | 7,25,424                                                                                |
| 4.       | Calcutta (West Bengal)                                        | 4,89,38,686                                                      | 0                                                                                       |
| 5.       | Delhi                                                         | 22,93,29,647                                                     | 10,90,01,868                                                                            |
| 6.       | Gauhati (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram and Nagaland)      | 3,06,62,123                                                      | 15,71,54,484                                                                            |
| 7.       | Gujarat                                                       | 5,37,090                                                         | 82,430                                                                                  |
| 8.       | Himachal Pradesh                                              | 71,42,331                                                        | 0                                                                                       |
| 9.       | Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh                                    | 3,92,08,843                                                      | 54,83,298                                                                               |
| 10.      | Jharkhand                                                     | 1,51,23,206                                                      | 75,83,464                                                                               |
| 11.      | Karnataka                                                     | 2,69,43,999                                                      | 3,44,31,202                                                                             |
| 12.      | Kerala                                                        | 5,86,92,719                                                      | 91,17,722                                                                               |
| 13.      | Madhya Pradesh                                                | 22,47,29,014                                                     | 53,31,95,995                                                                            |
| 14.      | Madras (Tamil Nadu & Puducherry)                              | 14,55,99,531                                                     | 8,19,05,103                                                                             |
| 15.      | Manipur                                                       | 52,78,155                                                        | 48,45,673                                                                               |
| 16.      | Meghalaya                                                     | 8,45,702                                                         | 33,31,430                                                                               |
| 17.      | Orissa (Odisha)                                               | 4,45,35,424                                                      | 11,75,81,662                                                                            |
| 18.      | Patna (Bihar)                                                 | 2,27,97,499                                                      | 0                                                                                       |
| 19.      | Punjab & Haryana (Punjab, Haryana &Chandigarh)                | 27,41,99,318                                                     | 50,66,96,188                                                                            |
| 20.      | Rajasthan                                                     | 10,43,40,362                                                     | 52,25,444                                                                               |
| 21.      | Sikkim                                                        | 11,61,836                                                        | 44,10,905                                                                               |
| 22.      | Telangana                                                     | 10,78,15,504                                                     | 3,28,19,876                                                                             |
| 23.      | Tripura                                                       | 63,60,786                                                        | 6,19,005                                                                                |
| 24.      | Uttarakhand                                                   | 1,71,00,000                                                      | 4,00,200                                                                                |
| 25.      | Chhattisgarh                                                  | 0                                                                | 0                                                                                       |
|          | Total                                                         | 1,99,49,45,317                                                   | 2,61,48,64,243                                                                          |