Lok Sabha Question No. 166 (STARRED), answered on 2015-12-10
Subject: e-Courts Mission Mode Project
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: CH. MALLA REDDY

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

## LOK SABHA

Starred Question No. 166 To be answered on Thursday, the 10 th  December, 2015

## E-COURTS MISSION MODE PROJECT

*166. SHRI CH. MALLA REDDY:

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

- a) the present status/progress achieved for various components in the implementation of e-Courts Mission Mode Project;
- b) the funds allocated/utilised for the purpose and the number of courts computerised so far, State/UT-wise;
- c) the time-frame set for completion of the said project; and
- d) the steps taken/being taken for effective and timely implementation of the project?

ANSWER MINISTER OF LAW & JUSTICE (Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda)

- a) to d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF LOK SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.166  FOR  10 TH   DECEMBER,  2015 REGARDING E-COURTS MISSION MODE PROJECT

- a)  and  b)    As  on  30 th   November,  2015,  more  than  93%  of  the mandated activities of Phase I of the Project have been completed. The status of provision of Local Area Network (LAN), hardware and software to courts covered under the project is given below:

| High Court Name            |   Site |   LAN |   Hardware |   Software |
|----------------------------|--------|-------|------------|------------|
| Allahabad                  |   2009 |  1957 |       2003 |       1964 |
| Telangana & Andhra Pradesh |    889 |   835 |        835 |        705 |
| Bombay                     |   1908 |  1891 |       1908 |       1955 |
| Calcutta                   |    774 |   774 |        770 |        770 |
| Chhattisgarh               |    267 |   231 |        218 |        182 |
| Delhi*                     |      0 |     0 |          0 |          0 |
| Gauhati**                  |    424 |   368 |        403 |        385 |
| Gujarat                    |    837 |   811 |        738 |        910 |
| Himachal Pradesh           |    101 |   101 |        101 |        100 |
| Jabalpur                   |   1151 |  1101 |       1101 |       1100 |
| Jammu And Kashmir          |    184 |   171 |        156 |        129 |
| Jharkhand                  |    536 |   479 |        479 |        444 |
| Jodhpur                    |    788 |   775 |        787 |        787 |
| Karnataka                  |    786 |   773 |        768 |        765 |
| Kerala                     |    420 |   396 |        413 |        370 |
| Madras                     |    784 |   752 |        668 |        638 |
| Orissa                     |    423 |   423 |        423 |        413 |
| Patna                      |   1060 |   922 |        788 |        788 |
| Punjab And Haryana         |    714 |   689 |        689 |        682 |
| Sikkim                     |     10 |    10 |         10 |         10 |
| Uttarakhand                |    184 |   184 |        178 |        176 |
| Total                      |  14249 | 13643 |      13436 |      13273 |

After  including  courts  which  were  not  covered  by  the  project  but which have been provided software, 13672 district and subordinate courts are now computerised. In addition to above, ICT infrastructure of the Supreme Court and High Court has also been upgraded. State Governments have also undertaken some computerisation.

A unified national core application software - Case Information System (CIS) software - has been developed and made available for deployment at all computerised courts.

The  national  e-Courts  portal  (http://www.ecourts.gov.in)  has become operational and has been opened for public access through websites of individual districts as well as through National Judicial Data  Grid  (NJDG).  The  portal  provides  online  services  to  litigants such  as  details  of  case  registration,  cause  list,  case  status,  daily orders,  and  final  judgments.  Currently,  litigants  can  access  case status information in respect of over 5.59 crore pending and decided cases  and  more  than  1.93  crore  orders/judgments  pertaining  to district  and  subordinate  Courts.  NJDG  data  will  also  help  the judiciary in judicial monitoring and management and the Government to get data for policy purposes.

Against the approved cost of Rs.935 crore for Phase I of the Project,  Rs.617.35  crore  have  been  released  to  NIC  upto  30 th November, 2015 for the above components of the eCourts project.

Ph-II  of  the  eCourts  Project  has  been  approved  in  July, 2015.  It  envisages  enhanced  ICT  enablement  of  court  through universal  computerisation,  use  of  cloud  computing,  digitisation  of case records and enhanced availability of e-Services through SMS, e-filing and e-payment gateways.

- c)    and  d)  The  Phase  II  of  the  eCourts  Mission  Mode  Project  was approved in the month of July, 2015 and the duration of the project would be four years, or until the project is completed, whichever is later.  Various  steps  have  been  taken  for  effective  and  timely implementation of the project. The design and specifications of the computer  hardware  has  been  finalized  by  the  eCommittee  of  the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts have initiated action to make procurement of computers. Further, NIC continues to provide technical support in Phase II of the Project. The Phase II provides for  2  PMUs  -  one  in  Supreme  Court  and  one  in  the  Department  of Justice.  The  PMUs  have  been  set  up  for  effective  monitoring,  coordination and smooth implementation of the project.  The PMU in the Department of Justice periodically reviews progress in implementation  of  the Project and  brings up issues requiring approval of the Empowered Committee of the Project.

The Project cost has been estimated at Rs.1670 crore and implementation has commenced with effect from 4 th  August, 2015.