Parliament Question: Implementation and outcomes of e-Courts project

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 764 ANSWERED ON - 05/02/2026 IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOMES OF E-COURTS PROJECT

764. Shri A. A. Rahim:

Will the Minister of Law and Justice be pleased to state:

(a) the funds allocated and released under Phase II and Phase III of the e-Courts project, State-wise and year-wise;

(b) the objectives set for digitisation and paperless functioning of courts under each phase and the extent of their achievement, so far;

(c) the number of district and subordinate courts that have been made fully paperless or have substantially reduced paper under the e-Courts project, State-wise; and

(d) whether any evaluation has been conducted to assess disparities in implementation across States and the steps being taken to ensure uniform digital access to justice? 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): The details of funds released under Phase II and Phase III of the e-Courts Project, High court-wise and year-wise, are at Annexure-I and Annexure-II respectively.

(b) and (c): The e-Courts Mission Mode Project is being implemented in three phases with the objective of strengthening the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the judicial system. Phase I (2011 – 2015) was primarily focused on basic computerization and internal connectivity in courts. As a result, 14,249 Courts were computerized and Local Area Network (LAN) was installed at 13,683 courts.

Phase II (2015 – 2023) focused on ICT facilitation of judicial services to citizens. The components included computer hardware, computerization of DSLAs/ TLCs, Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity, trainings of stakeholders, establishment of eSewa Kendra, etc.

1An advanced CIS software, National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) and systems for digital filing and payments were developed, which revolutionized the way public accessed the services

provided by the judiciary.

As per the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of eCourts Project Phase III, digitization of court records is a central focal point of the eCourts initiative. Before Phase III, only 5.9% of the total legacy records were digitized by 21 High Courts. Therefore, a robust infrastructural regime for scanning and digitisation has been approved under Phase III for digitisation of approximately 3,100 crore documents, including legacy and current records. A Digital Preservation Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been prepared for scanning, storage, retrieval, digitisation, and preservation of judicial records.

Further, the DPR proposes the setting up of infrastructure for paperless courts, including a customised software application for paperless courts wherein the e-filed and scanned documents can be displayed in the paperless court application and made accessible to judicial officers, litigants, lawyers, and the public. Judicial officers can access the cause list and digitized case papers/ paper books of their respective courts through their systems. The transition towards paperless courts through digitisation, virtual courts, e-filing, e-payments, and related initiatives has already resulted in a significant reduction in physical paper usage across Courts. The details of digitisation of records, virtual courts and video conferencing as

provided by eCommittee, Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, High Court-wise and District court- wise are at Annexure-III.

Further, Digital Courts 2.1, a software tool developed by the Centre of Excellence for eCourts [CoEE], NIC, Pune, is a customized application for paperless Courts with facility of translation and transcription using AI. It enables judges to access all case related documents, pleadings, and evidence digitally, marking a significant leap toward a paperless court ecosystem.

(d): Periodic reviews are undertaken in coordination with the High Courts and eCommittee, Supreme Court of India to assess the progress of implementation across States/UTs. Steps have been taken to enhance uniform digital access to justice through financial and technical support, capacity building initiatives, standardisation of platforms, and strengthened court infrastructure.

*** 2Annexure- I STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 764 FOR 05.02.2026 REGARDING IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOMES OF E-COURTS PROJECT Details of funds released under Phase II of the e-Courts project, High court-wise and year-wise:

(Rs. in crore) S. High Court 2015- 2016- 2017- 2018- 2019- 2020- 2021- Total No. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 1 Allahabad 31.14 20.88 20.57 8.07 15.04 13.79 0.00 109.48 2 Andhra 1.96 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.96 Pradesh 3 Bombay 30.39 38.25 47.22 0.52 0.00 8.86 0.00 125.24 4 Calcutta 12.14 9.17 10.72 0.13 0.00 4.93 0.00 37.09 5 Chhattisgarh 3.82 6.03 9.34 1.33 4.44 2.34 0.00 27.31 6 Delhi 5.87 5.41 8.97 3.54 0.00 3.00 0.00 26.80 7 Gauhati 0.59 4.33 1.37 2.85 0.98 1.52 1.26 12.90 (Arunachal Pradesh) 8 Gauhati 5.19 25.47 8.13 8.70 13.68 6.11 3.49 70.77

(Assam) 9 Gauhati 0.71 3.01 2.47 0.15 0.51 0.72 0.30 7.87

(Mizoram) 10 Gauhati 0.77 2.31 1.83 0.71 0.70 0.83 0.84 7.99

(Nagaland) 11 Gujarat* 11.23 18.32 29.06 10.73 0.00 3.48 0.00 72.82 12 Himachal 1.79 3.21 4.05 0.13 0.00 2.00 0.00 11.19 Pradesh 13 Jammu & 1.84 5.29 10.59 0.26 0.00 1.00 0.00 18.98 Kashmir and Ladakh 14 Jharkhand 3.20 5.09 2.92 4.53 5.53 2.98 0.00 24.25 15 Karnataka 11.86 17.43 22.04 0.61 9.15 4.29 0.00 65.38 16 Kerala 5.53 8.32 14.73 4.61 0.00 2.83 1.58 37.61 3S. High Court 2015- 2016- 2017- 2018- 2019- 2020- 2021- Total No. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 17 Madhya 9.73 23.93 22.51 0.39 11.21 6.28 0.00 74.05 Pradesh 18 Madras 10.24 24.62 25.45 5.11 0.00 4.73 0.00 70.15 19 Manipur 0.53 4.24 1.19 0.65 0.61 1.30 0.76 9.27 20 Meghalaya 0.19 3.26 3.65 0.62 0.92 2.32 2.23 13.17 21 Orissa 7.57 7.71 12.70 1.59 13.46 3.37 0.00 46.41 22 Patna 8.04 26.41 8.72 0.13 7.08 5.44 0.00 55.82 23 Punjab & 11.63 17.92 11.54 8.49 0.00 4.55 0.00 54.13 Haryana 24 Rajasthan 9.97 23.04 25.05 3.01 1.29 10.58 1.62 74.56 25 Sikkim 0.18 1.80 1.40 0.80 1.61 1.01 0.77 7.58 26 Telangana & 13.90 14.31 33.95 8.13 0.00 0.00 0.00 70.29 Andhra Pradesh** 27 Telangana 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.79 0.00 1.79 28 Tripura 1.20 4.38 2.86 1.77 2.24 4.44 0.96 17.86 29 Uttarakhand 2.98 2.66 4.60 0.13 0.00 1.28 0.00 11.65 Total (in Cr.) 202.23 326.79 347.65 77.71 88.44 107.74 13.81 1164.37 * Gujarat High Court surrendered Rs.13.12 Cr. Total utilization included surrendered funds.

** Funds released to erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and Telangana High Court; shared in the ratio of 58:42 respectively.

Note: In addition to the funds released to High Courts, Rs 180.57 crore were released to NIC for providing technical support, Rs 293.68 crore to BSNL for WAN (Wide Area Network) connectivity, Rs 13.50 crore to eCommittee, SCI under Change Management and Rs 16.31 crore for miscellaneous expenditure (salary, office expenses, publicity, etc).

4Annexure- II STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 764 FOR 05.02.2026 REGARDING IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOMES OF E-COURTS PROJECT Details of funds released under Phase III of the e-Courts project, High court-wise and year-

wise: (Rs. in crore) S. No. High Court 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 1 Allahabad 95.87 51.78 119.92 2 Andhra Pradesh 25.44 31.74 15.81 3 Bombay 69.54 83.19 92.41 4 Calcutta 16.73 27.65 9.50 5 Chhattisgarh 16.27 24.17 39.11 6 Delhi 17.89 48.19 17.90 7 Gauhati (Arunachal Pradesh) 2.03 9.76 1.79 8 Gauhati (Assam) 24.97 33.85 3.65 9 Gauhati (Mizoram) 3.12 6.22 1.99 10 Gauhati, Kohima (Nagaland) 1.79 3.91 3.41 11 Gujarat 27.72 73.21 48.89 12 Himachal Pradesh 6.06 6.89 7.63 13 Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh 6.52 14.53 12.81 14 Jharkhand 10.59 29.22 7.65 15 Karnataka 32.37 67.40 48.22 16 Kerala 15.40 32.62 51.60 17 Madhya Pradesh 22.90 77.31 48.58 18 Madras 90.69 91.75 113.20 19 Manipur 11.12 7.54 2.16 20 Meghalaya 3.33 8.50 3.83 21 Orissa 6.77 53.24 16.09 22 Patna 32.43 89.55 57.61 23 Punjab And Haryana 14.58 26.01 10.01 24 Rajasthan 19.80 34.72 60.88 25 Sikkim 1.71 8.98 2.51 5S. No. High Court 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 26 Telangana 22.03 28.57 28.91 27 Tripura 0.53 7.05 8.79 28 Uttarakhand 13.68 19.95 29.57 Total 611.88 997.49 864.43* * As on 02.02.2026

Note: In addition to the funds released to High Courts, Rs. 185.06 crore have been released to NIC for providing technical support, Rs 54.79 crore to BSNL for WAN (Wide Area Network) connectivity, Rs 17.51crore to eCommittee, SCI under Change Management, Rs 0.28 crore to IIT Madras for development of e-Learning platform, and Rs 9.42 crore for miscellaneous expenditure (salary, office expenses, publicity, etc).

6Annexure-III STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 764 FOR 05.02.2026 REGARDING IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOMES OF E-COURTS PROJECT I. Details of digitization of court records in High Courts and District Courts till 31.12.2025:

S. Total Pages Digitized Total Pages Digitized in High Court No. in High Court District Courts 1 Allahabad 57,74,41,007 1,68,69,63,743 2 Andhra Pradesh 3,41,11,865 17,28,50,732 3 Bombay 8,90,63,956 22,07,485 4 Calcutta 5,95,17,135 0 5 Chhattisgarh 24,26,800 1,91,84,603 6 Delhi 23,46,18,073 10,48,83,922 7 Gauhati – Arunachal Pradesh 5,06,407 1,26,322 8 Gauhati – Assam 2,97,53,593 15,58,31,203 9 Gauhati – Mizoram 12,31,287 20,97,820 10 Gauhati – Nagaland 0 0 11 Gujarat 16,98,629 11,64,409 12 Himachal Pradesh 79,15,775 11,81,757 13 Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh 4,11,76,756 2,50,11,814 14 Jharkhand 3,01,84,408 96,24,854 15 Karnataka 5,14,20,668 4,63,47,270 16 Kerala 8,17,95,531 1,71,13,720 17 Madhya Pradesh 24,62,88,505 66,68,95,995 18 Madras 20,76,93,848 13,16,62,142 19 Manipur 58,56,075 57,36,785 20 Meghalaya 11,56,596 38,20,961 21 Orissa 5,33,13,761 17,36,02,357 22 Patna 2,40,49,339 2,39,56,123 23 Punjab & Haryana 29,46,04,020 62,82,06,241 7S. Total Pages Digitized Total Pages Digitized in High Court No. in High Court District Courts 24 Rajasthan 13,44,36,567 3,50,10,815 25 Sikkim 11,73,135 54,15,378 26 Telangana 12,85,86,477 7,61,42,250 27 Tripura 54,39,454 5,62,558 28 Uttarakhand 2,41,91,236 1,33,14,115 Total 2,36,96,50,903 4,00,89,15,374 (Source: eCommittee, SCI) 8II. Details of virtual court establishments and challans, state-wise till 31.12.2025:

S. Number of Challans Challan Amount Virtual Court Establishment Name No. Received (In Rs.) 1 Assam (Assam Traffic Department) 2,52,352 3,10,25,201 Chandigarh (Virtual Court 2 18,14,186 24,49,08,810 Chandigarh) 3 Chhattisgarh (Traffic Department) 1,29,303 82,60,701 4 Chhattisgarh (Transport Department) 49,572 3,30,500 5 Delhi (Notice Department) 2,62,11,142 2,18,20,23,706 6 Delhi (Traffic Department) 1,10,92,663 2,15,46,13,153 7 Gujarat (Traffic Department) 74,86,237 41,16,95,656 8 Gujarat (Transport Department) 8,10,340 33,05,10,865 9 Haryana (Traffic Department) 51,63,782 26,95,79,801 Himachal Pradesh (Traffic 10 8,89,304 5,33,29,353 Department) Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh 11 14,59,411 12,12,00,646 (Jammu Traffic Department) Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh 12 14,20,148 14,98,72,014 (Kashmir Traffic Department) 13 Karnataka (Traffic Department) 1,27,657 1,10,16,14,350 14 Kerala (Police Department) 50,16,507 17,63,55,442 15 Kerala (Transport Department) 15,24,588 28,09,68,711 Madhya Pradesh (Traffic 16 21,09,341 5,75,54,610 Department) 17 Maharashtra (Transport Department) 56,569 31,49,705 Maharashtra (Nashik Traffic 18 22 2 Department) 19 Manipur (Virtual Court – Traffic) 19,671 7,96,000 20 Manipur (Virtual Court –Transport) 6,436 4,34,500 21 Meghalaya (Traffic Department) 6,472 1,00,501 Odisha (Traffic CTC-BBSR 22 8,80,783 7,63,59,501 Commissionerate) 23 Rajasthan (Traffic Department) 3,17,077 2,16,07,070 24 Tamil Nadu (Traffic Department) 2,53,972 1,17,54,41,050 25 Tripura (Traffic Department) 2,69,894 42,48,726 9S. Number of Challans Challan Amount Virtual Court Establishment Name No. Received (In Rs.) 26 Uttar Pradesh (Traffic Department) 2,99,56,401 82,72,27,444 27 Uttarakhand (Traffic Department) 1,66,141 1,85,93,902 28 Uttarakhand (Transport Department) 1,43,967 2,30,60,042 29 West Bengal (Traffic Department) 4,83,932 76,88,452 Total 9,81,17,870 973,25,50,414 (Source: eCommittee, SCI) 10III. Number of cases heard via video conferencing in High Courts and District Courts till

31.12.2025:

S. No. High Court High Courts District Courts 1 Allahabad 2,49,060 66,73,818 2 Andhra Pradesh 4,21,307 14,57,401 3 Bombay 94,493 3,10,408 4 Calcutta 1,81,591 1,85,189 5 Chhattisgarh 1,05,175 4,59,698 6 Delhi 3,22,201 75,03,131 7 Gauhati – Arunachal Pradesh 3,574 8,779 8 Gauhati – Assam 2,67,767 5,47,962 9 Gauhati – Mizoram 4,294 13,268 10 Gauhati – Nagaland 1,477 1,278 11 Gujarat 4,20,087 2,34,667 12 Himachal Pradesh 1,86,350 2,02,660 13 Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh 2,65,337 5,98,259 14 Jharkhand 2,25,235 7,45,304 15 Karnataka 12,78,460 1,92,285 16 Kerala 2,80,384 6,93,555 17 Madhya Pradesh 6,97,374 11,72,912 18 Madras 15,31,620 4,79,195 19 Manipur 55,160 18,811 20 Meghalaya 6,930 77,483 21 Orissa 3,59,593 3,66,450 22 Patna 2,78,212 32,75,264 23 Punjab & Haryana 6,53,089 37,34,523 24 Rajasthan 2,54,597 2,66,506 25 Sikkim 926 17,890 26 Telangana 15,31,472 2,01,818 27 Tripura 22,535 42,737 28 Uttarakhand 91,252 51,892 Total 97,89,552 2,95,33,143 (Source: eCommittee, SCI) 11