The Government has launched the eCourts Integrated Mission Mode Project in the country for computerization of District and subordinate courts with the objective of improving access to justice using technology. As part of the National eGovernance Plan, the project is under implementation since 2007 for ICT development of the Indian Judiciary based on the “National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology in the Indian Judiciary”. eCourts project is being implemented in association with e-Committee Supreme Court of India and Department of Justice.Phase I of the project was implemented during 2011-2015. Phase II of the project started in 2015 under which 18,735 District & Subordinate courts have been computerised.The detailed break-up of computerization of court complexes has been attached in Annexure-I.

During Phase II of the eCourts project, one video conference equipment each has been provided to all Court Complexes including taluk level courts and funds have been sanctioned for additional VC equipment for 14,443 court rooms. Funds for setting up 2506 VC Cabins have been made available. Additional 1500 VC Licenses have been acquired. VC facilities are already enabled between 3240 court complexes and corresponding 1272 jails.

Funds released during the last three years for development of digital infrastructure are mentioned below:

Year	Budget Sanctioned	Budget Released
2019-20	180	179.26
2020-21	180	179.31
2021-22	98.82	98.30
Total	458.82	456.88

Following initiatives have been taken under eCourts project -

1. Under the Wide Area Network (WAN) Project,connectivity has been provided to 99.4% (2976 out of earmarked 2994) of total Court Complexes across India with 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps bandwidth speed.
2. Case Information Software (CIS) is based on Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) which has been developed by NIC. 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.
3. 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 status information in respect of over 21.99 crore cases and morethan 20.10 crore orders / judgments (as on 02.01.2023). Open APIs have been introduced in 2020 to allow Central and State Governments and institutional litigants including local bodies to access NJDG data to improve pendency monitoring and compliance.
4. 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 (2,00,000 SMS sent daily), Email (2,50,000 sent daily), multilingual and tactile 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 1.50 cr. downloads till 31^stOctober 2022) and JustIS app for judges (18,407 downloads till 31^stDecember 2022). JustIS mobile app is now available in iOS as well.
5. 21 Virtual Courts in 17 States/UTs have been operationalized to handle traffic challan cases. More than 2.40 crore cases have been handled by 21 virtual courts and in more than 32 lakhs (32,62,303) cases online fine of more than Rs. 347.86 crore has been realised till 02.01.2023.
6. The Supreme Court of India emerged as a global leader by conducting 3,79,954 hearings (till 24.12.2022 since the beginning of lockdown period). The High Courts (76,62,243 cases and Subordinate Courts 1,68,47,529 cases) have conducted 2.45 crore virtual hearings till 24.12.2022. VC facilities have also been enabled between 3240 court complexes and corresponding 1272 jails. Funds for 2506 VC cabins and VC equipment for 14,443 courtrooms have also been released. 1500 VC licenses have been procured to promote virtual hearings. A sum of Rs. 7.60 crore has been released for procurement of 1732 Document Visualizers.
7. New e-filing system (version 3.0) has been rolled out for the electronic filing of legal papers with upgraded features.  Draft eFiling rules have been formulated and circulated to the High Courts for adoption. A total of 19High Courts have adopted the model rules of e-Filing as on 31.12.2022.
8. 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. A total of 20 High Courts have implemented e-payments in their respective jurisdictions. The Court Fees Act has been amended in 22 High Courts till 31.12.2022.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. To make effective use of database created through National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) and to make the information available to public 39 LED Display Message Sign Board System called Justice Clocks, have been installed in 25 High Courts.
12. Towards creating widespread awareness and familiarization of eFiling and eCourts services and to address “skill divide”, a manual on eFiling and a Brochure on “How to register for eFiling” has been made available in English, Hindi and 11 regional languages for the use of the lawyers. A YouTube channel has been created in the name of the e Court services with video tutorials on eFiling. The eCommittee of the Supreme Court of India has conducted trainings and awareness programmes on the ICT services. These programmes have covered nearly 5,13,080 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 phase II of the project is nearing its completion and DPR for e-Courts Phase III has been finalized and approved by eCommittee, Supreme Court of India.Phase III of the e-Courts project mentions a judicial system that is more affordable, accessible, cost-effective, predictable, reliable, and transparent for every individual who seeks justice or is part of the delivery of justice in India. DPR of eCourtsPhase III  mentions various new features such as Digital and Paperless Courts aimedat bringing court proceedings under a digital format in a court; Online Court  focussing on eliminating the presence of litigants or lawyers in the court ; expansion of scope of Virtual Courts beyond adjudication of Traffic Violations ; use of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and its subsets like Optical Character Recognition (OCR) etc for analysis of case pendency, forecasting future litigation, etc.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Law & Justice, Shri Kiren Rijiju, in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

 

Annexure-I

Statement referred to in reply of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.267 for 03/02/2023 regardingDigitization of Courts. The details of court complex and computerization of courts under eCourts project Phase-II are as under:

S.No	High Court	State	Court Complexes	Courts
1	Allahabad	Uttar Pradesh	180	2222
2	Andhra Pradesh	Andhra Pradesh	218	617
3	Bombay	Dadra and Nagar Haveli	1	3
		Daman and Diu	2	2
		Goa	17	39
		Maharashtra	471	2157
4	Calcutta	Andaman & Nicobar Islands	4	14
		West Bengal	89	827
5	Chhattisgarh	Chhattisgarh	93	434
6	Delhi	Delhi	6	681
7	Gauhati	Arunachal Pradesh	14	28
		Assam	74	408
		Mizoram	8	69
		Nagaland	11	37
8	Gujarat	Gujarat	376	1268
9	Himachal Pradesh	Himachal Pradesh	50	162
10	Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh	Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh	86	218
11	Jharkhand	Jharkhand	28	447
12	Karnataka	Karnataka	207	1031
13	Kerala	Kerala	158	484
		Lakshadweep	1	3
14	Madhya Pradesh	Madhya Pradesh	213	1363
15	Madras	Puducherry	4	24
		Tamil Nadu	263	1124
16	Manipur	Manipur	17	38
17	Meghalaya	Meghalaya	7	42
18	Orissa	Odisha	185	686
19	Patna	Bihar	84	1142
20	Punjab & Haryana	Chandigarh	1	30
		Haryana	53	500
		Punjab	64	541
21	Rajasthan	Rajasthan	247	1240
22	Sikkim	Sikkim	8	23
23	Telangana	Telangana	129	476
24	Tripura	Tripura	14	84
25	Uttarakhand	Uttarakhand	69	271
	Total		3452	18735

 

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SS/RKM

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