Lok Sabha Question No. 911 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-07
Subject: e-Courts Project Phase III
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab, Shri Naba Charan Majhi, Smt. Vijaylakshmi Devi, Shri Alok Sharma, Shri Vijay Baghel, Shri Ananta Nayak, Shri P P Chaudhary, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Shri Suresh Kumar Kashyap, Smt. Smita Uday Wagh, Dr. Bhola Singh, Shri Tejasvi Surya, Shri Dineshbhai Makwana, Shri Manoj Tiwari

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 911 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 07 th  FEBRUARY, 2025

e-Courts Project Phase III

## 911. SMT. SMITA UDAY WAGH:

SHRI SURESH KUMAR KASHYAP:

SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB:

DR. BHOLA SINGH:

SHRI VIJAY BAGHEL:

SHRI MANOJ TIWARI:

SMT. VIJAYLAKSHMI DEVI:

SHRI P P CHAUDHARY:

SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR:

SHRI ALOK SHARMA:

SHRI DINESHBHAI MAKWANA:

SHRI ANANTA NAYAK:

SHRI NABA CHARAN MAJHI:

SHRI TEJASVI SURYA:

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

- (a) whether there is any proposal to expand the existing judicial infrastructure to include more courts at district and sub-district level under Phase-III of eCourts project;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof,  district-wise  and  State-wise  including  Jalgaon Parliamentary Constituency of Maharashtra, Durg Parliamentary Constituency and Bemetara district of Chhattisgarh and Keonjhar district of Odisha;
- (c) the manner in which Phase-III is addressing the issue of pendency of cases and  whether  there  are  any  specific  timelines  or  targets  set  for  reducing pendency of cases through the new digital tools and systems introduced in the said phase, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether any measures have been taken to train judicial staff and stakeholders to use the new technologies introduced through the e-Courts project,  if  so,  the  details  of  the  training  programmes  planned  or  being implemented to ensure effective adoption of these technologies; and

- (e) the security protocols in place to safeguard sensitive legal data and prevent cyber threats within the judiciary?

## 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):  With  a  significant  outlay  of  Rs.7210  crore,  the  eCourts  Phase  III Project  underlines  the  importance  which  the  Government  attaches  to  the infrastructural needs of the courts in the country. Several initiatives have been planned and are under progress, to strengthen and expand the capacity of the existing  infrastructure  at  the  district  and  sub-district  levels,  including  Jalgaon Parliamentary Constituency of Maharashtra, Durg Parliamentary Constituency, Bemetara district of Chhattisgarh and Keonjhar district of Odisha. Some of the major  initiatives  under  the  eCourts  Phase  III  project  include,  making  fully functional advanced e-Sewa Kendras in all court complexes, interlinking of all courts across the country, including High Courts and District and  Subordinate courts,  Information  and  Communication  Technology  (ICT)  enablement  of  the Indian judicial system and making the justice delivery system accessible, costeffective, transparent, and accountable. Besides, infrastructure is being developed for paperless courts in a phase-wise manner, expansion of the virtual courts for hearing of court cases by creating a robust digital infrastructure, live streaming of court proceedings, digitisation of the entire court records, E-filing of cases and provision for video conferencing facilities. Some of the futuristic technological  advancements  such  as  Artificial  Intelligence,  Blockchain  and others are also planned. For ensuring seamless availability of ICT infrastructure, solar  power  facilities  are  being  installed  and  obsolete  hardware  is  being replaced.  Migrating  the  District  Court  websites  to  the  Secure,  Scalable  & Sugamya Website as a Service (S3WAAS)platform is an ongoing process and efforts are on to provide adequate cloud storage facilities in the courts.

As  per  the  information provided by  the  High  Court  of  Bombay,  under Phase  III  of  the  eCourts  Project,  ICT  Infrastructure  including,  All-in-One Computers,  Scanners,  UPS  (Uninterruptible  power  supply), Complete  Hybrid Video  Conferencing  Systems,  LAN  (Local  Area  Network)  Nodes,  Display Board,  MFD  (Multi-Function  Device)printers  for  existing  courts  has  been provided  in  all  the  newly  established  courts  in  the  State  of  Maharashtra including,  District  court,  Jalgaon. eSewa  Kendras,  are  also  established  which includes, various hardware  at district  and taluka courts in the State of Maharashtra.  Also,  two  courts  are  identified  as  online  courts  in  the  district headquarter at Jalgaon, under Phase-III of the eCourts Project and distribution of the ICT infrastructure for the said online courts is in process.

As per the information provided by the High Court of Odisha, 4 new courts at the district headquarters and 4 new taluka courts have been provided with all the  requisite  ICT  hardware  including,  All-in-One  Computers,  MFD  Printers, UPS,  LAN  Nodes,  Display  monitors  etc.  Video  conferencing  facilities  have been provided to all the 26 courts in the Keonjhar district. eSewa Kendras are functioning in 7 court complexes of the district, with requisite ICT hardware in place. One new Court Complex at Telkoi is being provided with prescribed ICT Hardware items i.e. Projector with Screen, 2 KVA UPS, 2 TB Hard disk, 7.5 KVA DG Sets etc. Under online court, 2 courts namely, ADJ-cum-Spl. Judge (Vig.)  Court  and  Judge  Family  Court  are  being  provided  with  prescribed Hardware  Items  i.e.  WACOM  (Interactive  display),  PTZ  (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) Camera,  VC  (Video  conferencing)  Unit,  High  Speed  Scanner,  Computer System, LED (Light-emitting diode) Display etc.

As per the information provided by the High Court of  Chhattisgarh, ICT infrastructure was provided to 467 Courts in 23 Districts in the earlier phases, which  is  now  proposed  to  be  increased  to  653  courts.  As  on  date,  as  far  as Bemetara  district  is  concerned,  14  courts  are  proposed  to  be  covered  under eCourts  Project  and  for  the  Durg  Parliamentary  Constituency,  76  courts  are

proposed to be covered under eCourts Phase III with requisite ICT infrastructure. The details are at Annexure I.

(c): No time frame has been prescribed for disposal of various kinds of cases by the  respective  courts.  Timely  disposal  of  cases  in  courts  depends  on  several factors which, inter-alia, include availability of adequate number of judges and judicial officers, supporting court staff and physical infrastructure, complexity of  facts  involved,  nature  of  evidence,  co-operation  of  stake  holders  viz.  bar, investigation  agencies,  witnesses  and  litigants  and  proper  application  of  rules and procedures. There are several factors which may lead to delay in disposal of cases.  These, inter-alia, include vacancies of judges, frequent adjournments and lack of adequate arrangement to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing. As far as, the technological interventions are concerned, under eCourts Project, the Wide Area Network (WAN) has been extended to 99.5% court complexes, 27 Virtual Courts have been set up in 21 States/UTs to try traffic offences, litigants have  access  to  case  information  through  the  National  Judicial  Data  Grid (NJDG),  VC  facilities  have  been  operationalized  between  3240  Courts  and related 1272 Prisons, live streaming of court proceedings is functional in the 9 High  Courts,  e-filing  system  (version  3.0)  has  been  rolled  out  with  upgraded features for lawyers to access and upload documents related to the cases from any location 24X7. As on date, 12,19,214 cases have been filed in High Courts and  49,04,673  have  been  filed  in  District  &  Taluka  Courts  (Total  61,23,887) using  eFiling  facility.  Apart  from  this,  1540  eSewa  Kendras  (Facilitation Centres) in  District  &  Subordinate  courts  and  39  eSewa  Kendras  (Facilitation Centres) in High Courts including 3 benches of Gauhati High Court have been rolled out to provide citizen centric services to lawyers and litigants.

(d):  The  details  of  the  training  programs  conducted  by  the  eCommittee,  SCI covering  various  stakeholders,  like,  courts  staff,  advocates,  Judges,  etc.,  are available in the public domain at eCommittee, SCI webportal link: https://ecommitteesci.gov.in/document-category/training-and-awarenessprogrammes/.

(e):  A  Sub-Committee  consisting  of  six  judges  of  the  various  High  Courts, assisted by technical working group members consisting of domain experts, has been constituted by the Chairperson of the eCommittee, Supreme Court of India to  suggest/recommend  secure  connectivity  and  authentication  mechanisms  for data  protection,  to  preserve  the  right  to  privacy.  The  Sub-Committee  is mandated to critically assess and examine the digital infrastructure, network and service delivery solutions created under the eCourts project for giving solutions for strengthening data security and for protecting the privacy of citizens.

*****

## Annexure I

Statement referred to in reply of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 911 for  07/02/2025  regarding  e-Courts  Project  Phase  III.  The  ICT  Hardware provisioned for Durg Parliamentary Constituency and Bemetara district of Chhattisgarh  under  eCourts  Project  Phase-III,  as  received  from  High Court of Chhattisgarh are as below:

| S. No.   | Name of the District     |   Infrastructure hitherto provided at the District & Sub- District level under the eCourts Mission Mode Project* |   Infrastructure proposed to be provided at the District &Sub- District level under the eCourts Mission Mode Project Phase III ** |
|----------|--------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1        | Surguja at Ambikapur     |                                                                                                               19 |                                                                                                                                25 |
| 2        | Korea at Baikunthpur     |                                                                                                               19 |                                                                                                                                23 |
| 3        | Balod                    |                                                                                                               12 |                                                                                                                                14 |
| 4        | Baloda-Bazar             |                                                                                                               27 |                                                                                                                                22 |
| 5        | Balrampur at Ramanujganj |                                                                                                                8 |                                                                                                                                11 |
| 6        | Bemetara                 |                                                                                                                9 |                                                                                                                                14 |
| 7        | Bilaspur                 |                                                                                                               35 |                                                                                                                                65 |
| 8        | Dantewara                |                                                                                                               13 |                                                                                                                                17 |
| 9        | Dhamtari                 |                                                                                                               16 |                                                                                                                                14 |
| 10       | Durg                     |                                                                                                               32 |                                                                                                                                76 |
| 11       | Bastar at Jagdalpur      |                                                                                                               14 |                                                                                                                                17 |
| 12       | Janjgir-Champa           |                                                                                                               22 |                                                                                                                                34 |
| 13       | Jashpur                  |                                                                                                               19 |                                                                                                                                16 |
| 14       | Kanker                   |                                                                                                               15 |                                                                                                                                27 |
| 15       | Kabirdham                |                                                                                                               12 |                                                                                                                                14 |
| 16       | Kondagaon                |                                                                                                               10 |                                                                                                                                11 |
| 17       | Korba                    |                                                                                                               19 |                                                                                                                                26 |
| 18       | Mahasamund               |                                                                                                               18 |                                                                                                                                24 |
| 19       | Mungeli                  |                                                                                                                7 |                                                                                                                                10 |
| 20       | Raigarh                  |                                                                                                               31 |                                                                                                                                39 |
| 21       | Raipur                   |                                                                                                               74 |                                                                                                                               106 |
| 22       | Rajnandgaon              |                                                                                                               22 |                                                                                                                                30 |
| 23       | Surajpur                 |                                                                                                               14 |                                                                                                                                18 |
|          | Total                    |                                                                                                              467 |                                                                                                                               653 |

Note: *Includes the courts where infrastructure has already been provided.

** This takes into account the courts where infrastructure has already been provided in previous phases, which is proposed to be increased in eCourts Phase III.