Parliament Question: e-Courts Mission Mode Project Phase III

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE (DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE) LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION No. *88 ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 25TH JULY, 2025 E-COURTS MISSION MODE PROJECT PHASE III *88. Shri Arun Bharti:

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

(a) whether the Government has approved the e-Courts Mission Mode Project Phase III to enhance the Indian judiciary's efficiency and accessibility, if so, the funds allocated for this phase;

(b) whether the project aims to digitise court records and establish paperless courts, if so, the specific measures being implemented to achieve this goal;

(c) whether there has been an expansion of video conferencing facilities in courts and jails under this initiative, if so, the total number of such facilities established in the country, State/UT-wise;

(d) whether e-Sewa Kendras have been set up across court complexes to assist citizens with e-Courts services, if so, the number of such centres operational, State/UT-wise; and

(e) whether emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) is part of this project and if so, the manner in which it is expected to improve case management and decision-making processes within the judiciary? 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) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. ****** 1STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (E) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *88 FOR ANSWER ON 25.07.2025 REGARDING ‘E- COURTS MISSION MODE PROJECT PHASE III’.

(a) Yes. The Union Cabinet has approved eCourts Phase III (2023-2027) on 13.09.2023, with an outlay of ₹7,210 crore, for improved Information & Communication Technology infrastructure in the courts to enhance judicial productivity.

(b) One of the components of eCourts Project Phase III is the scanning, digitization and digital preservation of case records, for which an amount of Rs. 2038.40 crore has been earmarked. As per information provided by the eCommittee, Supreme Court of India, 213.29 crore pages in the High Courts and 307.89 crore pages in the District Courts have been digitized till 30.06.2025, as per the details at Annexure- I. A software platform has been developed for long term preservation of judicial records of High Courts and District Courts. Further, Digital Courts 2.1 software platform has been developed for aiding courts to function in paperless mode.

(c) A sum of Rs. 228.48 crore has been earmarked for enhancing and upgrading the available infrastructure of Video Conferencing in various establishments, including jails, courts and district hospitals. As per information provided by the eCommittee, Supreme Court of India, the details of VC facilities provided to courts and jails are at Annexure-II.

(d) A sum of Rs.394.48 crore has been earmarked for setting up of eSewa Kendras across court complexes, under the eCourts Project Phase III. As per information provided by the eCommittee, Supreme Court of India, 1814 eSewa Kendras are operational in 24 High Courts and the District Courts under their jurisdiction, as per the details at Annexure- III. Additionally, there are 5 functional eSewa Kendras in the Supreme Court.

(e) Yes. A sum of Rs. 53.57 crore has been earmarked for the implementation of future technological advancements such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, etc. As per the information

provided by the Supreme Court of India, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) based tools are being used in case management and transcription of oral arguments in Constitutional Bench matters. AI/ML based tools are used by Supreme Court of India in coordination with National Informatics Centre (NIC) to translate English judgments into 18 Indian languages. Prototypes of AI and ML tools are being tested by the Supreme Court of India in collaboration with IIT Madras for curing defects, data, meta data extraction and the same is envisaged to be integrated with the electronic filing module and the Integrated Case Management & Information System (ICMIS).

***** 2Annexure I Statement referred to in reply of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 88 for 25/07/2025 regarding e-courts Mission Mode Project Phase III.

Details of digitization are as under:

District Courts(including Taluka Courts) under the concerned High Court Number of Total No. of Number of Total No. of pages digitized pages digitized # Name of High pages digitized pages digitized in the High in High Court in District in District Court Court in the up to current Courts in the Courts up to current month month current month current month 1 Allahabad 29,57,532 55,00,37,986 6,99,98,747 1,26,30,50,913 2 Andhra Pradesh 17,50,450 2,02,81,917 30,62,018 6,45,96,742 3 Bombay 48,08,004 5,84,86,329 58,758 18,14,777 4 Calcutta 10,41,766 5,27,75,761 - - 5 Chhattisgarh 2,70,681 13,49,920 6,94,957 24,04,904 6 Delhi 5,82,532 23,15,93,708 4,02,446 9,11,13,986 7 Gauhati 94,917 3,12,51,154 1,23,696 15,74,91,856 8 Gujarat 91,675 7,43,051 1,21,440 6,02,173 9 Himachal Pradesh - 71,42,331 - - 21,46,472 10 Jammu & Kashmir 1,10,278 3,98,69,492 1,24,96,788 11 Jharkhand 17,43,187 1,95,65,535 1,95,655 86,08,416 12 Karnataka 33,08,850 3,63,81,003 7,01,094 3,87,17,734 13 Kerala 19,29,589 6,69,47,293 6,98,440 1,08,70,987 14 Madhya Pradesh 16,49,364 23,12,22,106 1,30,00,000 58,76,95,995 15 Madras 74,39,073 16,67,83,534 53,27,906 10,39,82,590 16 Manipur 51,577 55,93,992 78,527 52,94,272 17 Meghalaya 18,844 9,98,123 9,221 35,63,523 18 Orissa 6,46,588 4,77,94,951 58,36,296 13,75,57,843 19 Patna 1,13,025 2,31,83,083 9,62,483 95,41,218 20 Punjab & Haryana 12,25,655 28,18,05,829 29,36,852 51,27,43,212 21 Rajasthan 31,66,277 11,67,82,238 21,27,017 1,01,79,759 22 Sikkim 2,264 11,67,321 80,785 46,59,148 23 Telangana 12,68,241 11,41,58,358 41,43,556 4,70,29,641 24 Tripura 92,538 73,84,185 - 6,19,005 25 Uttarakhand 7,29,338 1,96,26,919 15,58,660 42,82,851 Total 3,50,92,245 2,13,29,26,119 11,42,65,026 3,07,89,18,333 3Annexure II Statement referred to in reply of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 88 for 25/07/2025 regarding e-courts Mission Mode Project Phase III.

The details of VC facilities provided to courts and jails are as under:

Video Conferencing Facility provided under eCourts Project S. Number of High Courts Number of courts (including High Court) No. jails

District Court: 2532 court rooms and 147 court complexes 1 Allahabad 70

High Court: 2 PTZ Camera have been provided

District Court: 652 courtrooms 2 Andhra Pradesh 13

High Court: Four (4) Benches

District Court: 372 court complexes and 964 courts have been

provided with complete hybrid video conferencing system. (Phase I and Phase II) Under Phase - III of the eCourts Project, additional court complexes have been provided with 102 video conferencing system.

3 Bombay 96 Apart from this, 381 court rooms which were not covered under Phase II, including 129 district judges court establishment at the district and taluka level have been provided with video conferencing system.

High Court: 60 Courtrooms 4 Chhattisgarh 532 33 61 5 Calcutta 884 Correctional Homes 35 VC units have been

provided to

District Court: 07 video conferencing the District 6 Delhi Jails in However, as on date, video conferencing is functional in all the Delhi under c ourts of Delhi from the funds provided by the State Government.

Phase-II of the eCourts Project.

8 Nos. of

District Court: 31 courts Jails/ Sub Gauhati

High Court: 2 courtrooms Jails (02 7 (a) (Arunachal District Pradesh) Jails and 06 Sub Jails) 7 (b) Gauhati (Assam) 417 31 Gauhati 7 (c) 39 courts (including High Court) 10

(Mizoram) Gauhati 7 (d) 29 12

(Nagaland)

District Court: 1076 courts 8 Gujarat 27

High Court: 39 Courts (partially from State Government funds and eCommittee Funds)

District Court: 63 VC equipment’s provided to district judiciary 9 Himachal Pradesh under Phase-III. In addition, 22 All-in-One (AIO) VC equipment’s Nil p rovided to State hospitals.

4Video Conferencing Facility provided under eCourts Project S. Number of High Courts Number of courts (including High Court) No. jails

District Court: Out of 246 courts across the UT of J&K and Jammu & Ladakh, 80 courts have VC facility.

10 Kashmir and Under Phase III, VC hardware has been provided to 153 courts. 14 Ladakh

High Court: Equipped with VC facilities.

11 Jharkhand 278 28 12 Karnataka 349 4

District Courts: The Prisons Department, Govt of Kerala, has

provided dedicated VC units in Courts and Jails under the scheme 'VC between Courts and Jails', for remand extension in 370 Courts in the District Judiciary, utilising their own fund as well as fund allotted under eCourts Project Phase II.

13 Kerala NIL In addition, 27 District Courts have been provided with VC facilities under Phase II.

Further, 106 courts and 94 Court Complexes in the District Judiciary have been provided with dedicated VC units under Phase III.

14 Madras 1297 119 15 Orissa 803 Courts 53 16 Patna 1293 (District Courts of Bihar) 59 17 Punjab & Haryana 618 44

District Courts: 1376 Courts

High Court: 46 Court Rooms 18 Rajasthan 105 In addition, VC Facility is being provided for 45 newly created courts under Phase III.

19 Telangana 537 37 20 Madhya Pradesh 1858 405 21 Manipur 45 Courts (including 4 in the HC) 2 Court complexes-19 22 Meghalaya Court rooms -78 23 Sikkim 35 24 Tripura 91 13 25 Uttarakhand 241 11 5Annexure III Statement referred to in reply of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 88 for 25/07/2025 regarding e-courts Mission Mode Project Phase III.

Details are as under:

Status of implementation of e-Sewa Kendras as on 30.06.2025 Whether the Whether the Functioning Functioning e-Sewa e-Sewa e-Sewa e-Sewa Sr. Kendra is Kendra is Kendras in Total High Court Kendras in No. implemented implemented District (A+B) High Courts in High in District Courts

(A) Court Courts (B) 1 Allahabad Yes 2 Yes 74 76 2 Andhra Pradesh No 0 No 0 0 3 Bombay Yes 3 Yes 40 43 4 Calcutta Yes 1 Yes 14 15 5 Chhattisgarh Yes 1 Yes 23 24 6 Delhi Yes 1 Yes 13 14 7 Gauhati Yes 5 Yes 126 131 8 Gujarat Yes 1 Yes 192 193 9 Himachal Pradesh Yes 1 Yes 22 23 Jammu and 10 Yes 1 Yes 26 27 Kashmir 11 Jharkhand Yes 2 Yes 62 64 12 Karnataka Yes 3 Yes 25 28 13 Kerala Yes 1 Yes 161 162 14 Madhya Pradesh Yes 1 Yes 185 186 15 Madras Yes 7 Yes 310 317 16 Manipur Yes 1 Yes 20 21 17 Meghalaya Yes 1 Yes 16 17 18 Orissa Yes 1 Yes 160 161 19 Patna Yes 1 Yes 37 38 Punjab and 20 Yes 1 Yes 113 114 Haryana 21 Rajasthan Yes 2 Yes 1 3 22 Sikkim Yes 1 Yes 10 11 23 Telangana Yes 1 Yes 98 99 24 Tripura Yes 1 Yes 15 16 25 Uttarakhand Yes 1 Yes 30 31 Implemented 24 41 24 1773 1814 Not Implemented 1 1 6