Lok Sabha Question No. 2096 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-15
Subject: Performance of eCourt Project
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Gaddam Ranjith Reddy, Chandra Prakash Joshi

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2096 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 15 th  DECEMBER, 2023

## Performance of eCourt Project

## 2096. DR. G. RANJITH REDDY: SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH JOSHI:

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

- (a) the number of ongoing eCourts Projects in the country, State-wise including Telangana and Rajasthan;
- (b) the  performance  and  implementation  status  of  Phase-I  and  II  of  e-Court Project, State-wise;
- (c) the details of physical targets set and achieved in Phase-I and II of e-Courts project along with the number of courts having at least the minimal targetted level of digital infrastructure, State-wise including Telangana and Rajasthan;
- (d) whether Phase-III of e-Courts project has been approved to be implemented in the country and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the steps taken by the Government with regards to implementation of various stages of the eCourts projects?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE

(SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

(a) : As part of the National eGovernance Plan, the eCourts Mission Mode Project is under implementation since 2007 for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) development of the Indian Judiciary based on the 'National Policy and Action Plan  for  Implementation  of  Information  and  Communication  Technology  in  the Indian Judiciary'. eCourtsMission Mode Project is being implemented in association with  eCommittee,  Supreme  Court  of  India  and  Department  of  Justice.  Phase  I  &

Phase II of eCourts Mission Mode Project have been completed and the Cabinet on 13.09.2023  has  approved  eCourts  Phase-III  with  a  budgetary  outlay  of  Rs.7,210 crore. Telangana & Rajasthan are part of this project.

(b)  &  (c):  eCourts  Mission  Mode  Project  Phase  I  focused  on  the  basics  of computerisation  like  setting  up  computer  hardware,  ensuring  internet  connectivity, and  operationalizing  the  e-Courts  platform.  Against  the  financial  outlay  of  Rs.935 crore,  total  expenditure  incurred  was  Rs.639.41  crore  for  implementation  of  this phase.

Following initiatives were undertaken in this phase:

- i. 14,249 District and Subordinate courts were computerized
- ii. LAN was installed  at  13,683  courts,  hardware  provided  in  13,436  courts and software was installed in 13,672 courts.
- iii. Laptops were provided to 14,309 judicial officers and change management exercise completed in all High Courts.
- iv. Over 14,000 Judicial Officers were trained in the use of UBUNTU-Linux Operating System.
- v. More than 3900 court staff were trained in Case Information System (CIS) as System Administrators.
- vi. Video Conferencing facility was operationalised between 493 court complexes & 347 corresponding jails.

Phase  II  of  the  eCourts  Mission  Mode  Project  extended  from  2015-2023, focused  on  ICT  enablement  of  District  &  Subordinate  Courts  and  various  citizen centric  initiatives.  Against  the  financial  outlay  of  Rs.1670  crore,  total  expenditure incurred was Rs. 1668.43 crore for implementation of this phase. Till 2023, digital infrastructure  has  been  provided  to  18,735  courts,  including  1240  and  476    in Rajasthan &Telangana respectively, State-wise details are placed at Annexure-I.

The  following  e-initiatives  have  been  undertaken  by  the  Government  under eCourts Project to make justice accessible and available for all: -

- i. Under  the  Wide  Area  Network  (WAN)  Project,  connectivity  has  been provided to 99.4% (2977 out of earmarked 2992) of total Court Complexes across India with 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps bandwidth speed.
- ii. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) is a database of orders, judgments, and cases, created as an online platform under the eCourts Project. It provides information  relating  to  judicial  proceedings/decisions  of  all  computerized

district  and  subordinate  courts  of  the  country.  Litigants  can  access  case status information in respect of over 24.47 crore cases and more than 24.13 crore orders / judgments (as on 01.12.2023).

- iii. Case  Information  Software  (CIS)  based  on  customized  Free  and  OpenSource Software (FOSS) has been developed.  Currently CIS National Core Version 3.2 is being implemented in District Courts and the CIS National Core Version 1.0 is being implemented for the High Courts.
- iv. As part of eCourts project, 7 platforms have been created to provide real time information on case status, cause lists, judgements etc. to lawyers/Litigants through SMS Push and Pull (2,00,000 SMS sent daily), Email (2,50,000 sent daily), multilingual and tactile eCourts services Portal (35  lakh  hits  daily),  JSC  (Judicial  Service  centres)  and  Info  Kiosks.  In addition,  Electronic  Case  Management  Tools  (ECMT)  have  been  created with Mobile App for lawyers (total 2.07 crore downloads till 31.10.2023) and JustIS app for judges (19,433 downloads till 30.11.2023).
- v. India has emerged as a global leader in conducting court hearing through Video Conferencing. The District & Subordinate courts heard 2,11,52,949 cases while the High Courts heard 80,91,400 cases (totalling 2.92 crore) till 31.10.2023 using video conferencing system. The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India held 4,82,941 hearings through video conferencing till 15.05.2023.
- vi. Live  Streaming  of  court  proceedings  has  been  startedin  High  Courts  of Gujarat, Gauhati, Orissa, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Patna, Madhya Pradesh & Constitutional  Bench  of  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  of  India  thus  allowing media and other interested persons to join the proceedings.
- vii. 25  Virtual  Courts  in  20  States/UTs  have  been  operationalized  to  handle traffic challan cases. More than 4.11 crore cases have been handled by 25 virtual  courts  and  in  more  than 45  lakhs  (45,92,871)  cases  online  fine  of more than Rs. 478.69 crore has been realized till 30.11.2023.
- viii. New  e-filing  system  (version  3.0)  has  been  rolled  out  for  the  electronic filing of legal papers with upgraded features. Draft eFiling rules have been formulated  and  circulated  to  the  High  Courts  for  adoption. A  total  of  20 High Courts have adopted the model rules of e-Filing as on 31.10.2023.
- ix. e-Filing of cases requires the option for electronic payment of fees which includes  court  fees,  fines  and  penalties  which  are  directly  payable  to  the Consolidated  Fund.  A  total  of  21  High  Courts  have  implemented  epayments  in  their  respective  jurisdictions.  The  Court  Fees  Act  has  been amended in 23 High Courts till 31.10.2023.

- x. To bridge the digital divide, 875 eSewaKendrashave been rolled out with the  intention  of  facilitating  the  lawyer  or  litigant  who  needs  any  kind  of assistance  ranging  from  information  to  facilitation  and  eFiling.  It  also assists  the  litigants  in  accessing  online  eCourts  services  and  acts  as  a saviour for those who cannot afford the technology or are located in farflung  areas.  It  also  aids  to  addresses  the  challenges  caused  by  illiteracy among citizens at large. It will provide benefits in saving time, avoidance of exertion, travelling long distances, and saving cost by offering facilities of e-filing  of  cases  across  the  country,  to  conduct  the  hearing  virtually, scanning, accessing e-Courts services etc.
- xi. A  new  'Judgment  Search'  portal  has  been  started  with  features  such  as search by Bench, Case Type, Case Number, Year, Petitioner/ Respondent Name, Judge Name, Act, Section, Decision: From Date, To Date and Full Text Search. This facility is being provided free of cost to all.
- xii. To make effective use of database created through National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) and to make the information available to public, LED Display Message  Sign  Board  System  called  'Justice  Clock'  have  been  installed. The purpose of Justice Clock is to bring awareness to the public about the Justice  Sector. A total of  39 Justice  Clocks in 25 High Courts have been installed. A Virtual Justice Clock is also hosted online.

(d) & (e): Yes, Sir. As the eCourts Phase II formally came to an end on 31 st  March 2023,  for  further  expanding  the  reach  of  justice  through  digital  revolution, the Government of India, in the Union Budget 2023-2024, announced Rs. 7000 crore for Phase-III  of  eCourts  project.  Based  on  Detailed  Project  Report  approved  by eCommittee,  Supreme  Court  of  India,  the  Expenditure  Finance  Committee  in  its meeting held on 23.02.2023 recommended eCourts Phase III with a total outlay of Rs.7210 Crore. Further, the Cabinet on 13.09.2023 has approved eCourts Phase-III with a budgetary outlay of Rs.7,210 crore.

Taking the gains of Phase-I and Phase-II to the next level, the e-Courts PhaseIII aims to usher in a regime of maximum ease of justice by moving towards digital, online and paperless courts. The main objective of the Phase-III is to create a unified technology platform for the judiciary, which may provide a seamless and paperless interface  between  the  courts,  the  litigants  and  other  stakeholders. The  proposed timeframe for the eCourts Project Phase-III is four years starting from 2023 onwards. The Phase-III of the project envisions facilitation of various new features, which may prove to be a game changer for last mile justice delivery.

The Ministry of Finance, Government of India has released Rs.225 crore from the  contingency fund for eCourts Phase III in October 2023. With the approval of eCommittee,  Supreme  Court  of  India,  the  Department  of  Justice  has  allocated  Rs. 102.50  crore  for  BSNL  and  NIC  and  Rs.  110.24  crore  has  been  sub-allocated  to various High Courts for Scanning and Digitization, establishment of eSewaKendras, procurement of Hardware, Solar Power backup etc.

*****

## Annexure-I

Statement  referred  to  in  reply  of  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  2096    for  15/12/2023 regarding  Performance  of  eCourt  Project.  The  State-wise  details  of  operationaleCourts  in  the country is as under:

| S.No   | High Court                 | State                                                           |   Court Complexes |   Courts |
|--------|----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|----------|
| 1      | Allahabad                  | Uttar Pradesh                                                   |               180 |     2222 |
| 2      | Andhra Pradesh             | Andhra Pradesh                                                  |               218 |      617 |
| 3      | Bombay                     | Dadra and Nagar Haveli                                          |                 1 |        3 |
| 3      | Bombay                     | Daman and Diu                                                   |                 2 |        2 |
| 3      | Bombay                     | Goa                                                             |                17 |       39 |
| 3      | Bombay                     | Maharashtra                                                     |               471 |     2157 |
| 4      | Calcutta                   | Andaman &Nicobar Islands                                        |                 4 |       14 |
| 4      | Calcutta                   | West Bengal                                                     |                89 |      827 |
| 5      | Chhattisgarh               | Chhattisgarh                                                    |                93 |      434 |
| 6      | Delhi                      | Delhi                                                           |                 6 |      681 |
| 7      | Gauhati                    | Arunachal Pradesh                                               |                14 |       28 |
| 7      | Gauhati                    | Assam                                                           |                74 |      408 |
| 7      | Gauhati                    | Mizoram                                                         |                 8 |       69 |
| 7      | Gauhati                    | Nagaland                                                        |                11 |       37 |
| 8      | Gujarat                    | Gujarat                                                         |               376 |     1268 |
| 9      | Himachal Pradesh           | Himachal Pradesh                                                |                50 |      162 |
| 10     | Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh | Union Territory of Jammu &Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh |                86 |      218 |
| 11     | Jharkhand                  | Jharkhand                                                       |                28 |      447 |
| 12     | Karnataka                  | Karnataka                                                       |               207 |     1031 |
| 13     | Kerala                     | Kerala                                                          |               158 |      484 |
| 13     | Kerala                     | Lakshadweep                                                     |                 1 |        3 |
| 14     | Madhya Pradesh             | Madhya Pradesh                                                  |               213 |     1363 |
| 15     | Madras                     | Puducherry                                                      |                 4 |       24 |
| 15     | Madras                     | Tamil Nadu                                                      |               263 |     1124 |
| 16     | Manipur                    | Manipur                                                         |                17 |       38 |
| 17     | Meghalaya                  | Meghalaya                                                       |                 7 |       42 |
| 18     | Orissa                     | Odisha                                                          |               185 |      686 |
| 19     | Patna                      | Bihar                                                           |                84 |     1142 |
| 20     | Punjab& Haryana            | Chandigarh                                                      |                 1 |       30 |
| 20     | Punjab& Haryana            | Haryana                                                         |                53 |      500 |
| 20     | Punjab& Haryana            | Punjab                                                          |                64 |      541 |
| 21     | Rajasthan                  | Rajasthan                                                       |               247 |     1240 |
| 22     | Sikkim                     | Sikkim                                                          |                 8 |       23 |
| 23     | Telangana                  | Telangana                                                       |               129 |      476 |
| 24     | Tripura                    | Tripura                                                         |                14 |       84 |
| 25     | Uttarakhand                | Uttarakhand                                                     |                69 |      271 |
|        | Total                      |                                                                 |              3452 |    18735 |