Lok Sabha Question No. 3202 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-13
Subject: e-Courts Mission Mode Project
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Shri P C Mohan, Shri Mukeshkumar Chandrakaant Dalal, Shri Biplab Kumar Deb, Shri Suresh Kumar Kashyap, Shri Balya Mama Suresh Gopinath Mhatre

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3202 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 13 th  DECEMBER, 2024

## e-Courts Mission Mode Project

## 3202. SHRI MUKESHKUMAR CHANDRAKAANT DALAL:

SHRI P C MOHAN:

SHRI SURESH KUMAR KASHYAP:

SHRI BIPLAB KUMAR DEB:

## SHRI BALYA MAMA SURESH GOPINATH MHATRE:

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

- (a) the current status of the e-court integrated Mission Mode Project;
- (b) the key objectives and achievements of e-courts Integrated Mission Mode Project, specially in enhancing access to justice through technology;
- (c) the manner in which the project contributed to the conceptualization of district and subordinate courts;
- (d)  the  specific  technologies  that  have  been  implemented  to  improve connectivity in courts; and
- (e)  the  number  of  district  and  subordinate  courts  which  have  been computerized, State-wise especially in Tripura?

## 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  (d)  :  The  eCourts  Mission  Mode  Project  is  under  implementation  for Information  and  Communication  Technology  (ICT)  development  of  the

Indian Judiciary. The  Department  of  Justice, Government  of  India is implementing eCourts Project in close coordination with the eCommittee of Supreme  Court  of  India,  in  a  decentralized  manner,  through  the  respective High Courts.

Phase I of the project was implemented during 2011-2015 and focused on the basics of  computerisation  like  setting  up  computer  hardware,  ensuring internet connectivity, and operationalizing the e-Courts platform. Against an outlay of Rs.935 crore, a total expenditure  of Rs.639.41 crore was incurred for the implementation of this phase. The 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 UBUNTULinux 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 (2015-2023), focused on ICT enablement of District & Subordinate Courts and various citizen centric initiatives.  Against  an  outlay  of  Rs.1670  crore,  a  total  expenditure  of  Rs. 1668.43 crore was incurred for the implementation of this phase. Till 2023, digital infrastructure has been provided to 18,735 courts.

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 99.5% of total Court Complexes across India with  10  Mbps  to  100  Mbps  bandwidth  speed.  The  Wide  Area Network  (WAN)  Project  under  eCourts  project  is  aimed  at connecting all District and Subordinate court complexes, spread across the country using various technologies like Multiprotocol Label  Switching  (MPLS),  Optical  Fibre  Cable  (OFC),  Radio Frequency (RF), Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), Submarine Cable etc. This forms the backbone for the eCourts project ensuring data connectivity in courts across the length and breadth of the country.
- 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 information and more than 27.64 crore orders / judgments (as on date).
- iii. Case Information Software (CIS) based on customized Free and Open-  Source  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 (Over 4 lakhs SMS sent daily), Email (Over 6 lakhs sent daily), multilingual  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 2.69 crore downloads till 31.10.2024) and JustIS app for judges (20,719 downloads till 31.10.2024).

- v. India has emerged as a global leader in conducting court hearing through Video Conferencing. The District & Subordinate courts heard 2,48,21,789 cases while the High Courts heard 90,21,629 cases (totalling 3.38 crore) till 31.10.2024 using video conferencing system. The Supreme Court of India held 7,54,443 hearings from 23.03.2020 to 04.06.2024 through video conferencing. VC facilities have also been enabled between 3240 court complexes and corresponding 1272 jails.
- vi. Live Streaming of court proceedings has been started in the High Courts of Gujarat, Gauhati, Orissa, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Patna, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Calcutta & the Supreme Court of India,  thus  allowing  media  and  other  interested  persons  to  join the proceedings.
- vii. Virtual  Courts  in  21  States/UTs  have  been  operationalized  to handle  traffic  challan  cases.  Over  6  crore  cases  (6,00,29,546) have been handled by these virtual courts and online fine of more than Rs. 649.81 crores have been realized till 31.10.2024.
- viii. 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.
- 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. Therefore e-Payment system was launched for hassle free transfer of fee etc.
- x. To  bridge  the  digital  divide,  1394  eSewa  Kendras  (Facilitation Centres)  in  District  Courts  and  36  eSewa  Kendras  (Facilitation

Centres) in High Courts have been rolled out to provide citizen centric  services  to  lawyers  and  litigants.  It  also  assists  the litigants  in  accessing  online  e-Courts  services  and  acts  as  a saviour for those who cannot afford the technology or are located in far-flung areas. It also aids to addresses the challenges caused by illiteracy among citizens at large. These also 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. National Service and Tracking of Electronic Processes (NSTEP) has  been  launched  for  technology  enabled  process  serving  and issuing  of  summons.  It  has  currently  been  implemented  in  28 States/ UTs.
- xii. 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.
- xiii. As a part of the project, 605 trainings and awareness programmes  on  the  ICT  services  provided  under  the  eCourts project  has  been  conducted  from  May  2020  to  October  2024 covering  nearly  6,64,144  stakeholders,  including  High  Court Judges,  Judges  of  the  District  Judiciary,  Court  Staff,  Master Trainers  among  Judges/DSA,  Technical  Staff  of  High  Courts, and Advocates.

The  eCourts  Phase  III  (2023-2027)  has  been  approved  by  the  Union Cabinet in Sep'2023 at an outlay of ₹7,210 crore, which is over four times the funding  for  Phase  II.  The  project  envisages  various  new  digital  initiatives,

such as establishment of Digital and Paperless Courts that aim to bring court proceedings under a digital format, digitization of court records (both legacy records  and  pending  cases),  expansion  of  video  conferencing  facilities  to courts,  jails  and  hospitals,  scope  of  online  courts  beyond  adjudication  of traffic violations, saturation of all court complexes with eSewa kendras, state of  the  art  and  latest  Cloud  based  data  repository  for  easy  retrieval  and supporting the digitized court records, software applications, live streaming, and electronic evidence, use of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence  and  its  subsets  like  Optical  Character  Recognition  (OCR)  for analysis of case pendency, forecasting future litigation, etc. Thus, the efforts of the Government of integrating technology with the governance may prove to be a game changer in eCourts Phase III, ensuring ease of justice by making the  Court  experience  convenient,  inexpensive  and  hassle  free  to  all  the citizens of the country.

(e):  The  details  of  district  and  subordinate  courts  (including  Tripura)which have been computerizedacross the country is at Annexure-I.

*****

## Annexure-I

Statement  referred  to  in  reply  of  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  3202  for 13/12/2024 regarding e-Courts Mission Mode Project.

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