Lok Sabha Question No. 1915 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-06
Subject: Legal Reforms
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Dr. Kadiyam Kavya

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

*****

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO - 1915

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 06 th DECEMBER, 2024

## LEGAL REFORMS

## 1915. DR. KADIYAM KAVYA:

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

(a) the legal reforms and initiatives implemented by the Government to improve access to justice during the last three years;

(b) the measures taken to streamline the judicial system and foster legal awareness among citizens;

(c) the manner in which Government envisages fulfilling its constitutional duty under Article 39A by providing free legal services to vulnerable and marginalized sections of society; and

(d) the details on the effectiveness of Tele-Law in delivering legal aid to disadvantaged groups, especially focusing on women, SCs and STs and variations that exist across different States?

## 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) to (c) : Yes Sir. Department of Justice (DoJ), Ministry of Law and Justice has undertaken various initiatives/projects and developed scheme to increase free legal aid and ensure access to justice to the citizens with the aim to fulfil the obligation as enunciated under Article 39A of the Indian Constitution.

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) with a total outlay of Rs. 250 crores. The DISHA scheme aims to provide easy, accessible, affordable and citizen- centric delivery of legal services through the scheme of Tele-Law, Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services) and Legal Literacy and Legal awareness programme. Till 30 th November 2024, Tele- Law service has been made available across 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats in 785 districts across 36 States and UTs and has rendered pre - litigation advice to 1,03,06,149 beneficiaries. The Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal services) enables seamless connect through the Nyaya Bandhu Application (available on Android/iOS) between the interested Pro Bono Advocates and registered beneficiaries who are entitled for free legal aid under Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. As on 30 th November 2024, there are 8614 Pro Bono advocates registered under the Nyaya Bandhu program. Through the Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness programme approximately 86 lakh beneficiaries at the State and district and local level have been made aware and sensitized on various rights, duties and entitlements.

Further, the eCourts Mission Mode Project, a national eGovernance project for ICT enablement of district/subordinate courts of the country was launched with a view to facilitate faster disposal of cases by speeding up court processes and providing transparent on-line flow of information on case status, orders/judgments etc. to the judiciary as well as litigants, lawyers, and other stakeholders. In Phase II of the project which started in 2015, 99.5 % of total Court Complexes across India inter-linked through WAN connectivity and in addition, various citizen centric services have been initiated. Accessibility to more than 27.64 crore orders/judgments is available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG). In addition, through Video conferencing, 3.38 crore cases have been heard by the District and Subordinate Courts and High Courts and 7.54 lakh cases by the Supreme Court. Live streaming started in 9 High Courts and constitutional bench of Supreme Court of India. Virtual Courts have been established in 21 States/UTs to try traffic offences. The additional features include CIS, NJDG, JustIS app for judges, eFiling, epayments, Judgements & Order Search portal, NSTEP, Justice Clock etc.

Presently, eCourts Phase- III has been approved, at an outlay of Rs.7,210 crore. This phase aims to create a unified technology platform for the judiciary and provide a seamless and paperless interface between the courts, the litigants and other stakeholders. The important features of the eCourts Phase- III includes Digitisation of the court records, both legacy records and pending cases; state of the art and latest Cloud bases data repository for easy retrieval; saturating all court complexes across India with e-Sewa Kendras to provide easy access to

citizens not having the necessary know-how or computer equipment; Paperless Courts aiming to bring court proceedings under a digital format leading to transparency and accountability in the Indian Judiciary and speedy disposal of cases; Online Courts aimed at eliminating the presence of litigants or lawyers in the court, thus saving time and money; Use of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and its subsets like optical Character Recognition (OCR) etc for case pendency , forecasting future litigation, etc.; expansion of scope of Virtual Courts beyond adjudication of traffic challans etc.

In addition, the Government has set up National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) under the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act,1987 to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society as covered under Section 12 of the Act, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizens by reason of economic or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats to secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunities. For this purpose, the legal services institutions have been setup from the Taluk Court 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 Service Clinics; Legal Literacy Clubs; Lok Adalats and implementation of Victim Compensation Scheme. The details of activities /programmes undertaken by Legal Services Authorities is at Annexure - A.

(d): The State/UT- wise details of women, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and ScheduledTribes (STs) who received pre-litigation advice under Tele -Law is at Annexure - B.

**************

Statement as referred to in reply to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1915 for answering on 06.12.2024 by Dr. Kadiyam Kavya, MP on Legal Reforms

## Legal aid and advice:

| Years                  | Persons provided Panel Advocates   | Persons benefited through Advice/ Counselling   | Persons benefited through other services   | Total     |
|------------------------|------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|-----------|
| 2022-23                | 2,91,410                           | 6,39,230                                        | 2,84,129                                   | 12,14,769 |
| 2023-24                | 3,24,914                           | 9,47,087                                        | 2,78,163                                   | 15,50,164 |
| 2024-25 (upto Sept,24) | 1,68,380                           | 5,05,386                                        | 86,012                                     | 7,59,778  |

## Legal Awareness Programmes:

| Years                   | No of Legal Awareness programmes organised   | No. of Persons attended   |
|-------------------------|----------------------------------------------|---------------------------|
| 2022-23                 | 4,90,055                                     | 6,75,17,665               |
| 2023-24                 | 4,30,306                                     | 4,49,22,092               |
| 2024-25 (upto Sept. 24) | 1,90,231                                     | 1,61,35,058               |

## Legal Services / Empowerment Camps:

| Year                              | 2021        | 2022        | 2023        |
|-----------------------------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
| No. of camps organised            | 3502        | 38,541      | 30043       |
| No. of beneficiaries in all camps | 1,40,94,600 | 1,15,10,207 | 1,14,64,230 |

## Legal Services Clinics:

| Years                        | 2021-22                | 2021-22                                     | 2022-23                | 2022-23                                     |
|------------------------------|------------------------|---------------------------------------------|------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| Categories                   | Legal Services Clinics | Number of persons provided legal assistance | Legal Services Clinics | Number of persons provided legal assistance |
| Law Colleges/ Universities   | 1014                   | 5989                                        | 1093                   | 37351                                       |
| Villages                     | 4723                   | 727955                                      | 4134                   | 282140                                      |
| Community Centres            | 1019                   | 141404                                      | 776                    | 88638                                       |
| Courts                       | 762                    | 54871                                       | 904                    | 116563                                      |
| Jails                        | 1181                   | 218501                                      | 1177                   | 264593                                      |
| JJB/CWC/ Observation Homes   | 447                    | 15742                                       | 439                    | 29280                                       |
| For the people of North-East | 75                     | 373                                         | 64                     | 1170                                        |
| Others                       | 3755                   | 139529                                      | 3124                   | 194729                                      |
| Total                        | 12976                  | 1304364                                     | 11711                  | 1014464                                     |

| Years                      | 2023-24                | 2023-24                                     | 2024-25 (upto Sept.24)   | 2024-25 (upto Sept.24)                      |
|----------------------------|------------------------|---------------------------------------------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| Categories                 | Legal Services Clinics | Number of persons provided legal assistance | Legal Services Clinics   | Number of persons provided legal assistance |
| Law Colleges/ Universities | 1034                   | 27545                                       | 944                      | 9689                                        |
| Villages                   | 3659                   | 234515                                      | 3771                     | 137556                                      |
| Community Centres          | 971                    | 75114                                       | 831                      | 44351                                       |
| Courts                     | 1018                   | 141539                                      | 1081                     | 85278                                       |
| Jails                      | 1215                   | 324867                                      | 1227                     | 194229                                      |

| JJB/CWC/ Observation Homes   |   479 |   48565 |   520 |   38072 |
|------------------------------|-------|---------|-------|---------|
| For the people of North-East |    47 |     615 |    49 |    1131 |
| Others                       |  2961 |  183280 |  3568 |  117173 |
| Total                        | 11384 | 1036040 | 11991 |  627479 |

## Lok Adalats:

National Lok Adalats

| Years               | Pre-litigation Cases disposed of   | Pending Cases disposed of   | Total Cases disposed of   |
|---------------------|------------------------------------|-----------------------------|---------------------------|
| 2021                | 72,06,294                          | 55,81,743                   | 1,27,88,037               |
| 2022                | 3,10,15,215                        | 1,09,10,795                 | 4,19,26,010               |
| 2023                | 7,10,32,980                        | 1,43,09,237                 | 8,53,42,217               |
| 2024 (upto 0911.24) | 6,46,35,285                        | 1,26,34,580                 | 7,72,69,865               |

## State Lok Adalats

| Years                  | No. of benches constituted   |   Pre-litigation Cases disposed of |   Pending Cases disposed of |   Total Cases disposed of |
|------------------------|------------------------------|------------------------------------|-----------------------------|---------------------------|
| 2021-22                | 74,480                       |                             114278 |                      418251 |                    532529 |
| 2022-23                | 62,194                       |                              94939 |                      756370 |                    851309 |
| 2023-24                | 9,865                        |                             219230 |                      987873 |                   1207103 |
| 2024-25 (upto Sept.24) | 5,944                        |                             681938 |                      329974 |                   1011912 |

## Permanent Lok Adalats (Public Utility Services)

| Years                    | Cases settled   |
|--------------------------|-----------------|
| 2021-22                  | 1,18,136        |
| 2022-23                  | 1,71,138        |
| 2023-24                  | 2,32,763        |
| 2024-25 (upto Sept. ,24) | 98,776          |

## Implementation of Victim Compensation Schemes:

| Years                   | Compensation Awarded in (Rs.)   |
|-------------------------|---------------------------------|
| 2021-22                 | 2,21,87,47,426                  |
| 2022-23                 | 3,47,80,37,352/-                |
| 2023-24                 | 4,02,90,06,736/-                |
| 2024-25 (upto Sept.,24) | 2,27,12,83,081/-                |

| Statement as referred to in reply to part (d) Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1915 for answering on 06.12.2024 raised by DR. KADIYAM KAVYA , MPon Legal Reforms. State/UT-wise Details of Advice Enabled to Women, Scheduled Caste - Scheduled Tribes   | Statement as referred to in reply to part (d) Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1915 for answering on 06.12.2024 raised by DR. KADIYAM KAVYA , MPon Legal Reforms. State/UT-wise Details of Advice Enabled to Women, Scheduled Caste - Scheduled Tribes   | Statement as referred to in reply to part (d) Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1915 for answering on 06.12.2024 raised by DR. KADIYAM KAVYA , MPon Legal Reforms. State/UT-wise Details of Advice Enabled to Women, Scheduled Caste - Scheduled Tribes   | Statement as referred to in reply to part (d) Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1915 for answering on 06.12.2024 raised by DR. KADIYAM KAVYA , MPon Legal Reforms. State/UT-wise Details of Advice Enabled to Women, Scheduled Caste - Scheduled Tribes   | Statement as referred to in reply to part (d) Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1915 for answering on 06.12.2024 raised by DR. KADIYAM KAVYA , MPon Legal Reforms. State/UT-wise Details of Advice Enabled to Women, Scheduled Caste - Scheduled Tribes   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sr. No.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | States/UT's                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | Female                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | Scheduled Caste                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | Scheduled Tribe                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| 1                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Andaman And Nicobar                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | 1,759                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 2,232                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 136                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| 2                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Andhra Pradesh                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           | 1,57,161                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 70,679                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 22,041                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 3                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Arunachal Pradesh                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 11,633                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 8,459                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 3,686                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| 4                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Assam                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 86,974                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 26,975                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 12,391                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 5                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Bihar                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 2,86,713                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 2,30,607                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 40,117                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 6                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Chandigarh                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               | 3,858                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 3,694                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 528                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| 7                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Chhattisgarh                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             | 2,15,299                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 1,23,428                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 1,21,218                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| 8                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Dadra And Nagar Haveli &Daman &Diu                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | 2,712                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 882                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | 709                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| 9                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Delhi                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 4,665                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 3,309                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 237                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| 10                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Goa                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | 4,522                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 4,392                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 568                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| 11                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Gujarat                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | 1,31,135                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 77,952                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 1,89,284                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| 12                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Haryana                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | 62,319                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 65,574                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 10,393                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 13                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Himachal Pradesh                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         | 38,603                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 40,890                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 12,663                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 14                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Jammu And Kashmir                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 2,00,198                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 1,25,923                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 67,805                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 15                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Jharkhand                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                | 1,98,250                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 95,093                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 82,159                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 16                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Karnataka                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                | 1,81,377                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 83,696                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 23,508                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 17                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Kerala                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 18,618                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 13,857                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 1,306                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| 18                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Ladakh                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 1,171                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 419                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | 1,452                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| 19                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Lakshadweep                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | 1,224                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 1,634                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 5                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| 20                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Madhya Pradesh                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           | 3,58,011                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 3,86,046                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 1,79,067                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| 21                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Maharashtra                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | 2,76,008                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 3,21,237                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 1,51,815                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| 22                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Manipur                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | 585                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | 171                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | 495                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| 23                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Meghalaya                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                | 13,768                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 1,146                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 25,865                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 24                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Mizoram                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | 15,713                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 1,672                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 24,136                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 25                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Nagaland                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 12,508                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 910                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | 25,038                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 26                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Odisha                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 1,34,779                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 1,30,919                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 88,619                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 27                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Puducherry                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               | 1,186                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 1,082                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 49                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| 28                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Punjab                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 1,01,954                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 1,74,512                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 16,011                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 29                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Rajasthan                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                | 2,56,893                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 2,20,151                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 94,473                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 30                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Sikkim                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 1,152                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 991                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | 482                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| 31                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Tamil Nadu                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               | 1,38,036                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 67,365                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 17,489                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 32                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Telangana                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                | 95,869                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 61,107                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 31,329                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 33                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Tripura                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | 42,083                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 29,423                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 20,100                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 34                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Uttar Pradesh                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            | 8,01,086                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 7,07,453                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 1,02,535                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| 35                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Uttarakhand                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | 71,875                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 94,642                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 10,809                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 36                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | West Bengal Total                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 1,02,269 40,31,966                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | 79,785 32,58,307                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         | 10,201 13,88,719                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |