Lok Sabha Question No. 3296 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-08
Subject: Access to Legal Aid and Digital Justice Delivery
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Shri P C Mohan

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO - 3296

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 08 TH  AUGUST, 2025

## ACCESS TO LEGAL AID AND DIGITAL JUSTICE DELIVERY

## 3296. SHRI P C MOHAN:

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

- (a) the number of beneficiaries who have availed free legal aid under the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)  during the last three years, State-wise including Karnataka;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  steps  to  strengthen  digital  infrastructure  for court proceedings and legal aid delivery in district and taluk-level courts, particularly in Bengaluru and other urban centres; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof and the budgetary allocation made in this regard?

## 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):  The  National  Legal  Services  Authority  (NALSA)  was  constituted  under  the  Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987 to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker  sections  of  the  society  including  beneficiaries  covered  under  Section  12  of  the LSA Act, 1987, which aims to ensure that the opportunities for securing justice are not denied  to  any  citizen  by  reason  of  economic  or  other  disabilities,  and  to  organize  Lok Adalats  for  amicable  settlement  of  disputes.  In  addition,  NALSA  has  also  formulated various schemes  for the implementation  of preventive and strategic legal service programmes, which are implemented by the Legal Services Authorities at various levels i.e.  State,  District  and  Taluka  level.  The  State/UT-wise  (including  Karnataka)  details  of beneficiaries under various activities/programmes undertaken by Legal Services Authorities during the last three years are at Annexure - A .

- (b)  and  (c):  Several  steps  have  been  taken  under  the  eCourts  Project,  to  improve  the court management  processes  and  digitize  the  services  for  the  various  stakeholders,  such  as, lawyers, litigants, judges and others, which are as under:
- i. Under the digital case management system, eFiling 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.
- ii. ePayment system has been launched for hassle free transfer of fee, etc.
- iii. National Service and Tracking of Electronic Processes (NSTEP) has been launched for technology enabled process serving and issuing of summons.
- iv. A Judgment Search portal has been started with features such as search by Bench, Case Type,  Case  Number,  Year,  Petitioner/Respondent  Name,  etc.  This  facility  is  being provided free of cost to all.
- v. To facilitate easy and hassle-free access to citizen-centric services, 1814 eSewa Kendras (Facilitation Centres) have been established across India.
- vi. 29 Virtual Courts are functioning across 21 States/UTs for trying traffic related offences.
- vii. Several  eCourts  services,  are  available  on  case  status,  cause  lists,  judgements  etc.  to lawyers/  litigants  including  SMS  Push  and  Pull,  email,  multilingual  eCourts  services Portal, Info Kiosks, eCourts Mobile App for lawyers/litigants (3.16 crore downloads till date) and JustIS App for judges (21,716 downloads till date).
- viii. To bring in greater objectivity, consistency, transparency and speed, Case  Information System (CIS) version 4.0 software has been implemented across the district and taluka courts across the country.

In  Karnataka,  adequate  IT  infrastructure  including  computers,  printers,  scanners,  and related hardware have been provided. Kiosks are installed at the court complex level, and eSewa Kendras are established in each court complex to serve as help desks equipped with video conferencing facilities. All courts are equipped with video conferencing under the eCourts project, with additional financial support from the Government of Karnataka. The State Government has also allocated supplementary funds for setting up eSewa Kendras.

Under Phase - III of eCourts Project, the budgetary allocation made for the Karnataka High Court is as under:

| Financial Year   |   Amount Released (Rs. in crore) |
|------------------|----------------------------------|
| 2023-24          |                            35.86 |
| 2024-25          |                            67.65 |
| 2025-26          |                            48.06 |
| Total            |                           151.57 |

To strengthen legal aid delivery at the district and taluk (sub-district) levels in India, the following steps have been taken:

- i. NALSA has created a web portal to file an application for getting legal assistance and track its progress.
- ii. NALSA has launched a Legal Services Mobile App for Android and IOS version which facilitate  seeking  legal  assistance,  legal  advice,  tracking  of  application,  applying  for victim compensation, etc.
- iii. Legal Services Authorities are  also  providing legal  advice through NALSA's National Toll-Free Helpline Number 15100 through IVRS Technology.

The  Government  of  India  is  also  implementing  a  Central  Sector  Scheme  namely;  Legal Aid Defense Counsel System (LADCS) Scheme through NALSA since 2023-24, which aims to  provide legal aid with regard to criminal cases to the beneficiaries eligible for legal  aid under Section 12 of the LSA Act, 1987. The following steps have been taken by Karnataka SLSA  to  strengthen  digital  infrastructure  for  legal  aid  delivery  in  district  and  taluk-level courts including Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural and Mysuru which utilized Rs. 15 lakh for both digital and other infrastructure of the office of LADCS:

- i. Wi-Fi facilities provided in LADCS Office for the LADC Counsels to access digital eGeneral like SCR.
- ii. LADC Counsels are provided computer, monitors and printers for their day-to-day work.
- iii. LADC counsels can appear through Video Conference in the court proceedings.

*****

Annexure-A

## Statement referred to in reply to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3296 for answer on 08.08.2025 regarding 'Access to Legal Aid and Digital Justice Delivery'

| S.No.   | Name of the State/UT Authority   | 2022-23   | 2023-24   | 2024-25   |
|---------|----------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1       | Andaman and Nicobar Islands      | 134       | 220       | 341       |
| 2       | Andhra Pradesh                   | 9,473     | 8,265     | 11,266    |
| 3       | Arunachal Pradesh                | 5,559     | 5,696     | 9,236     |
| 4       | Assam                            | 38,335    | 63,749    | 82,694    |
| 5       | Bihar                            | 2,09,809  | 1,51,413  | 84,505    |
| 6       | Chandigarh                       | 2,653     | 2,822     | 2,951     |
| 7       | Chhattisgarh                     | 44,106    | 62,164    | 80,874    |
| 8       | Dadra and Nagar Haveli           | 28        | 55        | 45        |
| 8       | Daman and Diu                    | 24        | 34        | 119       |
| 9       | Delhi                            | 96,433    | 1,21,882  | 76,526    |
| 10      | Goa                              | 2,041     | 1,558     | 1,889     |
| 11      | Gujarat                          | 32,422    | 40,569    | 50,467    |
| 12      | Haryana                          | 43,098    | 76,863    | 82,194    |
| 13      | Himachal Pradesh                 | 5,998     | 7,346     | 6,222     |
| 14      | Jammu and Kashmir                | 7,992     | 11,396    | 18,602    |
| 15      | Jharkhand                        | 1,45,217  | 2,69,303  | 3,28,365  |
| 16      | Karnataka                        | 45,663    | 53,406    | 51,245    |
| 17      | Kerala                           | 23,418    | 36,498    | 26,571    |
| 18      | Ladakh                           | 711       | 505       | 324       |
| 19      | Lakshadweep                      | 0         | 0         | 1         |
| 20      | Madhya Pradesh                   | 1,91,921  | 2,25,510  | 2,33,009  |
| 21      | Maharashtra                      | 36,663    | 53,756    | 59,454    |
| 22      | Manipur                          | 26,929    | 62,635    | 99,062    |
| 23      | Meghalaya                        | 2,769     | 2,371     | 2,754     |
| 24      | Mizoram                          | 5,038     | 4,801     | 3,713     |
| 25      | Nagaland                         | 7,390     | 4,603     | 5,012     |
| 26      | Odisha                           | 11,880    | 19,289    | 22,134    |
| 27      | Puducherry                       | 788       | 621       | 616       |
| 28      | Punjab                           | 56,448    | 60,361    | 65,513    |
| 29      | Rajasthan                        | 13,472    | 20,290    | 22,216    |
| 30      | Sikkim                           | 1,127     | 1,074     | 901       |
| 31      | Tamil Nadu                       | 49,570    | 45,180    | 52,528    |
| 32      | Telangana                        | 12,615    | 13,193    | 16,021    |
| 33      | Tripura                          | 5,055     | 9,964     | 10,303    |
| 34      | Uttar Pradesh                    | 24,890    | 29,079    | 22,732    |
| 35      | Uttarakhand                      | 5,386     | 21,339    | 34,208    |
| 36      | West Bengal                      | 49,714    | 62,354    | 92,914    |
| Total   | Total                            | 12,14,769 | 15,50,164 | 16,57,527 |