eCourts Project

Finally, the Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its approval for the second phase of eCourts Mission Mode Project at an estimated cost of Rs 1,670 crore. It may be recalled that the Supreme Court's budget proposal for Rs 2,700 crore e-courts project has been gathering dust for the last 14 months with the government.

The eCourts Mission envisages enhanced ICT enablement of courts through universal computerisation, use of cloud computing, digitization of case records and enhanced availability of e-services through e-filing, e-payment gateways and mobile applications etc. The project is aimed at providing necessary hardware and software applications to enable courts to deliver e-services to citizens, and to enable the judiciary to better monitor and manage the functioning of courts.

Under phase-I of the project, a National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) has been setup which is intended to be the national data warehouse for case data including orders/ judgements for Courts across the country. Phase-II of the project will aim at attaining the full coverage of case data of courts across the country with gradual shift to auto pull mechanism for state court cloud installations which will ensure smooth updation of data on NJDG.

Under the Phase I, more than 13000 District and Subordinate courts have been computerised and case information linked to the respective District court websites. These courts are now providing online eServices such as cause lists, case status and judgments, to litigants and public through the eCourts portal (http://www.ecourts.gov.in) also. Case status information in respect of over 5 crore pending and decided cases and more than one crore orders/ judgments are available online.

Litigants and lawyers are also provided services through Judicial Service Centre at the court complexes. More than 24 crore transactions have already been recorded regarding online access of court information. The Phase II of the eCourts project would also help in the automation of workflow management in courts thereby contributing to better court and case management.

Touch screen based Kiosks and Video Conferencing facility will be installed at all Court Complexes and corresponding jails. Hand held process service devices will be provided to process servers to ensure transparent and time bound delivery of court notices and summons. Also, the use of solar energy has been proposed at 5 percent of the court complexes on a pilot basis.