Phase II of the e-Courts Mission Mode Project focuses mainly on ICT enablement of District & Subordinate Courts and various citizen centric initiatives

As part of the National e-Governance Plan, the e-Courts Mission Mode Project is under implementation for Information and Communication Technologies (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”. This project is being implemented by the Department of Justice, in close coordination with the e-Committee, Supreme Court of India.

The phase I of the e-Courts Mission Mode Project was implemented during 2011-2015, which focused on the basics of computerisation like setting up computer hardware, ensuring internet connectivity, and operationalizing the e-Courts platform. Against the financial outlay of Rs.935 crore, a total expenditure of Rs.639.41 crore was incurred. The following initiatives were undertaken in this phase:

1. 14,249 District and Subordinate courts were computerized.
2. LAN was installed at 13,683 courts, hardware provided in 13,436 courts and software was installed in 13,672 courts.
3. Laptops were provided to 14,309 judicial officers and change management exercise completed in all High Courts.
4. Over 14,000 Judicial Officers were trained in the use of UBUNTU-Linux Operating System.
5. More than 3900 court staff were trained in Case Information System (CIS) as System Administrators.
6. Video Conferencing facility was operationalised between 493 court complexes & 347 corresponding jails.

The phase II of the e-Courts Mission Mode Project was implemented during 2015-2023, which focused mainly on ICT enablement of District & Subordinate Courts and various citizen centric initiatives. Against the financial outlay of Rs.1670 crores, an amount of Rs. 1668.43 crore was spent. Till 2023, 18,735 courts have been computerised. The High Court wise/State-wise details are at Annexure-I. The following initiatives have been undertaken to make justice accessible and available for all stakeholders through digitization of legal procedures, thereby enhancing efficiency and transparency in the legal system: –

1. Under the Wide Area Network (WAN) Project, connectivity has been provided to 99.4% (2977 out of earmarked 2992) of total Court Complexes across India with 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps bandwidth speed.
2. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) is a database of orders, judgments, and cases, created as an online platform under the e-Courts 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 26.044 crore cases and more than 26.047 crore orders / judgments (as on 01.07.2024).
3. Case Information Software (CIS) based on customized Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) has been developed.  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.
4. 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 e-Courts 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 2.42 crore downloads till 31.05.2024) and JustIS app for judges (19,893 downloads till 31.05.2024).
5. India has emerged as a global leader in conducting court hearing through Video Conferencing. The District & Subordinate courts heard 2,33,67,497 cases while the High Courts heard 86,35,710 cases (totalling 3.20 crore) till 31.05.2024 using video conferencing system. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India held 7,54,443 hearings through video conferencing till 04.06.2024.
6. Live Streaming of court proceedings has been started in High Courts of Gujarat, Gauhati, Orissa, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Patna, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand & Constitutional Bench of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, thus allowing media and other interested persons to join the proceedings.
7. 28 Virtual Courts in 21 States/UTs have been operationalized to handle traffic challan cases. Over 5.08 crore cases have been handled by 28 virtual courts and in over 54 lakhs (54,72,772) cases, online fine of more than Rs. 561.09 crore has been realized till 31.05.2024.
8. New e-filing system (version 3.0) has been rolled out for the electronic filing of legal papers with upgraded features.  Draft e-Filing rules have been formulated and circulated to the High Courts for adoption. A total of 25 High Courts have adopted the model rules of e-Filing as on 31.05.2024.
9. 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 22 High Courts have implemented e-payments in their respective jurisdictions. The Court Fees Act has been amended in respect of 23 High Courts till 31.05.2024.
10. To bridge the digital divide, 1057 e-Sewa Kendras have been rolled out with the intention of facilitating the lawyer or litigant who needs any kind of assistance ranging from information to facilitation and e-Filing. It also assists the litigants in accessing online e-Courts services and acts as a saviour for those who cannot afford the technology or are located in far-flung areas. It also aids to addresses the challenges caused by illiteracy among citizens at large and provides benefits in terms of saving time, avoidance of exertion, travelling long distances, and saving cost by offering facilities of e-filing of cases across the country, to conduct the hearing virtually, scanning, accessing e-Courts services etc.
11. 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.
12. To make effective use of database created through National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) and to make the information available to public, LED Display Message Sign Board System called “Justice Clock” have been installed. The purpose of Justice Clock is to bring awareness to the public about the Justice Sector. A total of 39 Justice Clocks in 25 High Courts have been installed. A Virtual Justice Clock is also hosted online.

As Phase II of e-Courts Mission Mode Project was coming to an end, the Union Cabinet on 13.09.2023 has approved Phase-III of e-Courts Project, with a budgetary outlay of Rs.7,210 crore for a period of 4 years starting from 2023 onwards. Taking the gains of Phase-I and Phase-II to the next level, e-Courts Phase-Ill 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 e-Filing/ e-Payments through saturation of all court complexes with e-Sewa Kendras. E-Courts 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 e-Courts 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 e-Courts Phase III including digitization of 3108 crore pages of legacy records, cloud infrastructure, 4400 fully functional e-Sewa Kendras in all court complexes, and use of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, etc along with its financial details are placed at Annexure II. Funds under e-Courts Mission Mode Project are released to various High Courts on the recommendation of e-Committee, Supreme Court of India.

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

Annexure-I

The State-wise details of operational e-Courts in the country is as under:

Annexure-II

The components of e-Courts Phase III along with financial details are as under: