Parliament Question: Financial Utilisation of Phase III of the e-Courts Mission Mode Project

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3386 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 07th AUGUST, 2026 FINANCIAL UTILISATION OF PHASE III OF THE E-COURTS MISSION MODE PROJECT 3386. SHRI SHYAMKUMAR DAULAT BARVE: Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state: (a) the current implementation status and financial utilisation out of the allocated 7,210 crore budget for Phase III of the e-Courts Mission Mode Project across district and subordinate Courts; (b) the concrete steps being taken by the Government under this phase to ensure universal saturation of e-Sewa Kendras, with particular focus on rural and marginalised populations; (c) the total number of citizens who have accessed free legal advice through the Tele-Law initiative under the Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice (DISHA) scheme as of date; and (d) the measures taken during the recent National Consultation on the Tele-Law initiative to integrate technology-enabled legal services with grass-roots judicial infrastructure? 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): Phase-III of the eCourts Mission Mode Project, covering the District and Subordinate Courts, is being implemented by the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law & Justice, in coordination with 1the eCommittee, Supreme Court of India, in a decentralized manner through the respective High Courts for the period 2023-24 to 2026-27. Against the total allocation of Rs. 3,225 crore, expenditure of Rs. 2,514.81 crore has been incurred under Phase III of eCourts Mission Mode Project during financial year 2023-24 to 2025-26. During the current financial year 2026-27, Rs. 1,200 crore have been allocated under the Scheme. (b): Under Phase-III of the eCourts Mission Mode Project, e-Sewa Kendras are strengthened as citizen-centric facilitation centres to provide assisted access to various eCourts services including e- Filing, e-Payments, case status, cause lists, orders and judgments and other digital court services. The respective High Courts have established and operationalised e-Sewa Kendras in accordance with the approved implementation plan and local requirements, with the objective of enhancing accessibility to digital judicial services, particularly for litigants from rural, remote and underserved areas. Under Phase-III of the eCourts Mission Mode Project, as on 30.06.2026, 1806 e- Sewa Kendras are functional across 25 High Courts. (c): The Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice (DISHA) Scheme has been continued as DISHA 2.0 as a Central Sector Scheme for pan India implementation for the period of 2026-31. DISHA 2.0 provides an easy, accessible, affordable, technology enabled and people-centric legal services through its components viz. Tele- Law (Reaching the Unreached), Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services) Programme and Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness Programme (LLLAP). A new vertical namely VIDHI (Vision for Integrated Delivery of Harmonized Legal Initiatives)- Sanjeevani has been introduced under the DISHA 2.0. The Tele-Law connects people with panel lawyers through mobile-app (Tele-Law for Citizens/Lawyers) and Toll-Free No. 14454 for rendering free pre-litigation legal advice through use of video/tele conferencing facilities available at the Common Service Centres (CSCs)/Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) at the panchayat level. Nyaya Sahayaks, who are active community based legal facilitators, have been engaged in the Aspirational Blocks to strengthen service delivery. As on 31.07.2026, a total of 1,13,56,204 pre-litigation legal advice has been enabled through the Tele- Law initiative under the DISHA 2.0 Scheme. (d): The National Consultation on the Tele-Law Initiative under the DISHA Scheme was held on 29th March 2026. A key outcome of the Consultation was the launch of the Nyaya Setu AI Chatbot, developed in association with BHASHINI, to integrate technology-enabled legal services with 2grassroots justice delivery mechanisms. The Generative AI-powered multilingual and multimodal platform enables citizens to access information on legal processes, rights and available legal remedies through simple voice and text interactions across 22 Indian languages. It utilizes a Hybrid Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture to ensure that responses are grounded in statutory legal texts. The Nyaya Setu AI Chatbot facilitates multilingual legal assistance through automated query handling, structured data capture and information on legal rights and remedies. Complementing the Tele-Law ecosystem, it strengthens technology-enabled, citizen-centric legal services by improving accessibility, efficiency and inclusiveness, particularly for marginalized and underserved populations. *** 3