Lok Sabha Question No. 1028 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-25
Subject: Efficiency and Effectiveness of the Judicial System
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Dr. Amar Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1028 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 25 TH  JULY, 2025

## EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM

## 1028.  DR. AMAR SINGH:

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

- (a) whether the Government has taken any initiatives for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the Country's judicial system;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) if not, the reasons therefor?

## 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): The Government has taken several initiatives for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the Country's judicial system which include the following:
- i. The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms was set up in August, 2011, with the twin objectives of increasing access to justice by  reducing  delays  in  the  system  and  enhancing  accountability  through structural changes and by setting performance standards and capacities.

The  Mission  has  been  pursuing  a  coordinated  approach  for  phased liquidation  of  arrears  and  pendency  in  judicial  administration,  which, inter-alia, involves better infrastructure for courts including computerization, increase in sanctioned strength of District and Subordinate Courts, policy and legislative measures in the areas prone to excessive  litigation  and  re-engineering  of  court  procedure  for  quick disposal of cases and emphasis on human resource development.

- ii. Under  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  for  development  of  Judicial Infrastructure, funds are being released to States/UTs for construction of court halls, residential quarters for judicial officers, lawyers' halls, toilet complexes  and  digital  computer  rooms  that  ease  the  life  of  various stakeholders including the litigants, thereby aiding justice delivery. As on 30.06.2025, Rs. 12,101.89 crores have been released since the inception of this Scheme in 1993-94. The number of court halls has increased from 15,818 (as on 30.06.2014) to 22,372 (as on 30.06.2025) and the number of  residential  units  has  increased  from  10,211  (as  on  30.06.2014)  to 19,851 (as on 30.06.2025), under this Scheme.
- iii. Under Phase I and II of the e-Courts Mission Mode Project, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was leveraged for IT enablement of  District  and  Subordinate  Courts  and  18,735  District  and  Subordinate Courts were computerized till 2023. WAN connectivity was provided to 2977 sites. Video Conferencing facility was enabled between 3,240 court complexes and 1,272 corresponding jails. 778 eSewa Kendras (facilitation centres) were established to bridge the digital divide by providing citizen centric services to lawyers and litigants. 21 virtual courts were set up in 17  States/UTs,  which  handled  more  than  2.78  crore  cases  and  realized more than Rs. 384.14 crores in fines up to March 2023.

The  Phase-III  of  the  eCourts  Project  (2023-2027)  was  approved  on

13.09.2023 with an outlay of Rs.7,210 crore, which is aimed at ushering a regime of enhanced ease of justice by moving towards digital, online and paperless  courts.  It  intends  to  incorporate  latest  technology  such  as Artificial  Intelligence  (AI)  to  make  justice  delivery  progressively  more robust, easy and accessible. Till date, 506.05 crores pages of court records have  been  digitized  in  the  High  Courts  and  District  Courts.  More  than 3.65 crore hearings have taken place through Video conferencing and live streaming is functional in 11 High Courts. The number of eSewa Kendras (facilitation  centres)  has  increased  to  1814  across  High  Courts  and District  Courts.  Artificial  Intelligence  and  Machine  learning  tools  are being  used  in  case  management  hearing  and  for  transcription  of  oral judgements in the Supreme Court of India.

- iv. The Government has been filling up vacancies of Judges in the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts from time to time. From 01.05.2014 to 21.07.2025, 70 Judges have been appointed in the Supreme Court. 1058 new  Judges  were  appointed  and  794  Additional  Judges  were  made permanent  in  the  High  Courts  during  the  same  period.  The  sanctioned strength  of  Judges  of  the  High  Courts  has  increased  from  906  in  May, 2014 to 1122 till date. The sanctioned and working strengths of judicial officers in District and Subordinate Courts have increased as under:

| As on      | Sanctioned Strength   | Working Strength   |
|------------|-----------------------|--------------------|
| 31.12.2013 | 19,518                | 15,115             |
| 21.07.2025 | 25,843                | 21,122             |

Source: MIS Portal of the Department of Justice

However, filling up of vacancies in District and Subordinate judiciary falls  within  the  domain  of  the  State/UT  Governments  and  High  Courts concerned.

- v. In pursuance of a Resolution passed in Chief Justices' Conference held in April, 2015, Arrears Committees have been set up in all 25 High Courts

to clear cases pending for more than five years.  Arrears Committees have now been set up under District Courts as well.

- vi. Under the aegis of the Fourteenth Finance Commission, the Fast Track Courts  have  been  established  for  dealing  with  cases  of  heinous  crimes, cases involving senior citizens, women, children, etc. As on 30.06.2025, 865 Fast Track Courts are functional across the country. With a view to fast-track criminal cases involving elected MPs / MLAs, ten (10) Special Courts are functional in nine (9) States/UTs. Further, the Central Government had approved a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for setting up Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) across the country, for the expeditious disposal of pending cases of Rape and POCSO Act. As on 30.06.2025, 725  FTSCs  including  392  exclusive  POCSO  (ePOCSO)  Courts  are functional in 29 States/UTs, which have disposed of more than 3,34,000 cases since their inception.
- vii. With  a  view  to  reduce  pendency  and  unclogging  of  the  courts,  the Government has amended various laws like The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment)  Act,  2018,  The  Commercial  Courts  (Amendment)  Act, 2018, The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018, The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 and The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2018.
- viii. Alternate Dispute Resolution methods have been progressively promoted. Accordingly, The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 was amended in August, 2018 making Pre-institution Mediation and Settlement (PIMS) mandatory in case of commercial disputes. In order to further enhance the efficiency of  the  PIMS  mechanism,  the  Government,  through  The  Mediation  Act, 2023,  has  further  amended  the  Commercial  Court  Act,  2015.  The amendments  to  The  Arbitration  and  Conciliation  Act,  1996  have  been made  in  the  years  2015,  2019  and  2021  for  expediting  the  speedy resolution of disputes.

Under The Commercial Courts Act, 2015, there is a provision for case management  hearing,  which  provides  for  an  efficient,  effective  and purposeful judicial management of a case so as to achieve a timely and qualitative  resolution  of  a  dispute.  It  assists  in  early  identification  of disputed  issues  of  facts  and  law,  establishment  of  procedural  calendar for  the  life  of  the  case  and  the  exploration  of  possibilities  of  the resolution of the dispute.

Another  novel  feature  introduced  for  the  commercial  courts  is  the system of color banding, which limits the number of adjournments that can be granted in any commercial matter to three and alerts the judges about listing of the cases in accordance with their stage of pendency.

- ix. Lok Adalat is an important Alternative Disputes Resolution Mechanism available  to  common  people,  where  the  disputes/  cases  pending  in  the court of law or at pre-litigation stage are settled/ compromised amicably. Under The Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987, an award made by a Lok Adalat is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final and binding  on  all  parties  and  no  appeal  lies  against  it  before  any  court. National Lok Adalats are organized simultaneously in all Taluks, Districts and High Courts on a pre-fixed date.

The details of the cases disposed of in National Lok Adalats during the last four years are as under: -

| Years              | Pre-litigation Cases   | Pending Cases   | Grand Total   |
|--------------------|------------------------|-----------------|---------------|
| 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               | 8,70,19,059            | 1,75,07,060     | 10,45,26,119  |
| 2025 (up to March) | 2,58,28,368            | 50,82,181       | 3,09,10,549   |
| Total              | 22,21,01,916           | 5,33,91,016     | 27,54,92,932  |

- x. The  Government  launched  the  Tele-Law  programme  in  2017,  which provides  an  effective  and  reliable  e-interface  platform  connecting  the needy and disadvantaged sections seeking legal advice and consultation with panel lawyers via video conferencing, telephone and chat facilities available  at  the  Common  Service  Centres  (CSCs)  situated  in  Gram Panchayats and through Tele-Law mobile App.
- xi. Efforts have been made to institutionalize pro bono culture and pro bono lawyering  in  the  country.  A  technological  framework  has  been  put  in place where advocates volunteering to give their time and services for pro bono  work  can  register  as  Pro  Bono  Advocates  on  Nyaya  Bandhu (Android & iOS and Apps). Nyaya Bandhu Services are also available on UMANG Platform. Pro Bono Panel of advocates has been initiated in 23 High Courts at the State/UT level. Pro Bono Clubs have been started in 109 Law Schools to instill Pro Bono culture in budding lawyers.

*Percentage-wise break-up of Tele - Law Data

| Till 30 th June, 2025   | Cases Registered    | %wise Break Up      | Advice Enabled      | %wise Break Up      |
|-------------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
| Gender -wise            | Gender -wise        | Gender -wise        | Gender -wise        | Gender -wise        |
| Female                  | 44,81,170           | 39.58%              | 44,21,450           | 39.55%              |
| Male                    | 68,39,728           | 60.42%              | 67,58,085           | 60.45%              |
| Caste Category-wise     | Caste Category-wise | Caste Category-wise | Caste Category-wise | Caste Category-wise |
| General                 | 26,89,371           | 23.76%              | 26,48,100           | 23.69%              |
| OBC                     | 35,64,430           | 31.49%              | 35,16,236           | 31.45%              |
| SC                      | 35,27,303           | 31.16%              | 34,90,737           | 31.22%              |
| ST                      | 15,39,794           | 13.60%              | 15,24,462           | 13.64%              |
| Total                   | 1,13,20,898         |                     | 1,11,79,535         |                     |

********