Lok Sabha Question No. 856 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-26
Subject: e-Court Mission
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Shri C N Annadurai, Shri Navaskani K, Shri Selvam G

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 856

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 26 th  JULY, 2024

## e-Court Mission

## 856 . SHRI C N ANNADURAI: SHRI NAVASKANI K:

## SHRI SELVAM G:

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

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  implemented  Phase-II  of  the  e-Courts Mission Mode Project, if so, the financial outlay and the total expenditure incurred for implementation of this project;
- (b) whether the Government proposes to develop e-Courts through Phase-III for operation of various courts;
- (c) if so, details thereof including the total outlay in Phase-III of the e-Courts project including virtual hearings, establishment of virtual benches of the High Courts etc., State-wise including Tamil Nadu;
- (d) whether the Government has conducted an assessment of usefulness of Phase-I  and  Phase-II  of  the  E-courts  Mission  Mode  Project,  if  so,  the details and outcome of the assessment and steps taken thereon; and
- (e) whether the  Government has formulated any standard operating procedure for the implementation of the Phase-III of e-Courts project, if so, the details thereof and 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) Yes,  Sir.  The  Government  has  implemented  eCourts  Mission  Mode Project Phase-II during 2015-2023, which focused mainly on ICT enablement of

District & Subordinate Courts and various citizen centric initiatives. Against an outlay of Rs.1670 crore, a sum of Rs. 1668.43 crore was spent.

(b)  &  (c)  :  On  13.09.2023,  the  Union  Cabinet  has  approved  Phase-III  of  the eCourts Project, at an outlay of Rs.7,210 crore for a period of 4 years starting from 2023. Taking the gains of Phase-I and Phase-II to the next level, e-Courts Phase-III  aims  to  usher  in  a  regime  of  maximum  ease  of  justice  by  moving towards  digital,  online  and  paperless  courts  through  digitization  of  the  entire court records including legacy records and by bringing in universalization of eFiling/  e-Payments  through  saturation  of  all  court  complexes  with  e-Sewa Kendras. The eCourts Project Phase-III intends to put in place intelligent smart systems  enabling  data-based  decision  making  for  judges  and  registries  while scheduling or prioritizing cases. The main objective of the Phase-III is to create a unified technology platform for the judiciary, thus providing a seamless and paperless interface between the courts, the litigants and other stakeholders. The project envisages a smoother user experience by building a 'smart' ecosystem. The eCourts Phase-III may thus prove to be a game changer in ensuring ease of justice by making the Court experience convenient, inexpensive and hassle free to all the citizens of the country. The various components of eCourts Phase-III includes digitization of 3108 crore pages of legacy records, cloud infrastructure, 4400  fully  functional  eSewa  Kendras  in  all  court  complexes,  and  use  of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, etc. Under the eCourts Project funds are released to various High Courts on the recommendation of the eCommittee Supreme Court of India and not to specific States. The details of component-wise allocation, including in respect of High Court of Madras are at Annexure I.

During FY 2024-25, a sum of Rs. 1500 crore has been allocated in BE under eCourts Project Phase-III, of which Rs. 465.74 crore has been released, till July 2024.

(d)  Yes, Sir. Third-Party Evaluation has been conducted by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) for eCourts Project and key findings are as follows:

- The eCourts Project has led to an increase in the total number of cases filed  in  the  courts  and  helped  with  easier  access  to  information  through online portals and mobile applications.
- A high level of satisfaction was expressed with the access and quality of the various ICT facilities provided under the eCourts project.
- The procurement process by the eCommittee, Supreme Court of India is well planned and all payments are received on time.
- Judges are satisfied with the improvement in court time management and transparency  of  information  that  has  resulted  from  implementation  of eCourts project.
- 90-100%  of  sample  courts  have  provision  of  computers  hardware  and have installed Case Information System (CIS).
- High proportion of judges and court officials had received training in the use  of  CIS,  NJDG  and  hardware.  Almost  all  respondents  were  of  the opinion that the trainings were very useful.
- Services like Case Information System (CIS), JustIS mobile app and The National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) website are used very often and have an easy user interface.
- Majority  of  judges  and  court  official  feels  that  eCourts  project  has reduced pendency of cases because of easy access to cases laws resulting in better research.

- The  pendency  of  cases  over  5  years  have  displayed  slow  but  steady decline over the years.
- Since 2017, a sharp increase in the clearance rate of district courts is also noticed.

(e)  eCourts  project  is  being  implemented  in  association  with  eCommittee, Supreme Court of India, presently headed by Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, and Department of Justice, in a decentralized manner through the respective High Courts.  The  eCommittee  is  responsible  for  the  policy  planning,  strategic direction  and  guidance  for  implementation  of  eCourts  project  and  works  in collaborative partnership  with Department of  Justice,  which  is  responsible  for providing necessary funding for the project.

The Detailed Project Report of the e-Courts Project Phase-III was approved by the eCommittee on 21 st October 2022 under the chairmanship of Hon'ble Dr. Justice  D.Y.  Chandrachud. The said Detailed Project Report formed the basis for  approval  of  Phase-III  by  the  Union  Cabinet  on  September  13 th ,  2023.  In addition,  the  eCommittee  has  issued  various  Standard  Operating  Procedures (SOPs)  for  activities  like  Video  Conferencing,  e-Filing,  Digitization,  etc.  and circulated to all the High Courts for their guidance.

*****

## Annexure I

Statement  referred  to  in  reply  of  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  856  for 26/07/2024 regarding e-Courts. The components and financial details of eCourts Phase-III are as below:

Cost Estimate

| S.No.   | Scheme Component                                                |   Cost Estimate (Total (In Rs. Cr.)) |
|---------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| 1       | Scanning, Digitization and Digital Preservation of Case Records |                              2038.4  |
| 2       | Cloud Infrastructure                                            |                              1205.23 |
| 3       | Additional hardware to existing courts                          |                               643.66 |
| 4       | Infrastructure in newly set up courts                           |                               426.25 |
| 5       | Virtual Courts                                                  |                               413.08 |
| 6       | eSewa Kendra                                                    |                               394.48 |
| 7       | Paperless Court                                                 |                               359.2  |
| 8       | System and Application Software Development                     |                               243.52 |
| 9       | Solar Power Backup                                              |                               229.5  |
| 10      | Video Conferencing set-up                                       |                               228.48 |
| 11      | e- filing                                                       |                               215.97 |
| 12      | Connectivity (Primary + Redundancy)                             |                               208.72 |
| 13      | Capacity Building                                               |                               208.52 |
| 14      | CLASS (Courtroom Live-Audio Visual Streaming System)            |                               112.26 |
| 15      | Project Management Unit                                         |                                56.67 |
| 16      | Future Technological Advancements                               |                                53.57 |
| 17      | Judicial process re-engineering                                 |                                33    |
| 18      | Disabled friendly ICT enabled facilities                        |                                27.54 |
| 19      | NSTEP                                                           |                                25.75 |
| 20      | Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)                                 |                                23.72 |
| 21      | Knowledge Management System                                     |                                23.3  |
| 22      | e-Office for High Courts &District Courts                       |                                21.1  |
| 23      | Integration with Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS)  |                                11.78 |
| 24      | S3WAAS platform                                                 |                                 6.35 |
|         | TOTAL                                                           |                              7210    |