Parliament Question: Judicial reforms

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 146 ANSWERED ON 12/02/2026 JUDICIAL REFORMS

146. # SHRI TEJVEER SINGH:

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

(a) the concrete steps taken under recent budgetary provisions to reduce pending cases in the judicial system and strengthen judicial infrastructure;

(b) the details of new policy initiatives related to e-courts, alternative dispute resolution and expansion of legal services; and

(c) the details of measurable improvements observed, so far, in speedy justice efficiency and access to justice, as a result of these measures? 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 (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. ******STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (C) OF RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 146 FOR ANSWER ON 12.02.2026 REGARDING ‘JUDICIAL REFORMS’

(a) to (c): The disposal of cases is within the exclusive domain of the judiciary. However, the Central Government is committed for speedy disposal of cases and reducing the pendency as mandated under Article 21 of the Constitution and has taken several steps to provide an ecosystem for faster disposal of cases by the judiciary and to strengthen the judicial infrastructure, which includes the following:

i. The Phase-III of the eCourts Project (2023-2027) was approved on 13.09.2023 with an outlay of Rs.7,210 crore to make justice delivery progressively more robust, easy and accessible. As on November, 2025, 618.36 crores pages of court records have been digitized in the High Courts and District Courts. More than 3.89 crore hearings have taken place through Video conferencing, and live streaming is functional in 11 High Courts. The number of eSewaKendras (facilitation centres) has increased to 2059 across High Courts and District Courts.

ii. Fast Track Courts have been established for expeditious trial of specific categories of cases including heinous crimes, cases involving women, children, persons with disabilities, individuals afflicted with terminal illnesses, and property-related cases pending for more than five years. As per information received from the High Courts, 876 FTCs are functional across 21 States/UTs as on 30.11.2025.

Further, ten Special Courts are functional in nine (9) States/UTs for expeditious trial and disposal of criminal cases involving elected MPs / MLAs. iii. Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, namely Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) Scheme, 774 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) including 398 exclusive POCSO (ePOCSO) Courts are functional across 29 States/UTs for the expeditious disposal of pending cases of Rape and POCSO Act, and have collectively disposed of 3,66,124 cases since their inception, as on 31.12.2025. The financial outlay under the scheme is Rs. 1952.23 crore with Rs. 1207.24 crore as Central Share to be incurred from Nirbhaya Fund on the CSS pattern. The Central Government, as on 05.02.2026, has released a total amount of Rs. 1,156.99 crore to States/UTs for the operationalization of FTSCs since the inception of the Scheme in 2019.

iv. To augment the resources of the State /UT Governments, the Union Government has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the Development of Infrastructure Facilities for District and Subordinate Courts by providing financial assistance to the State/UT Governments in the prescribed fund sharing between center and states. Under the Scheme, a sum of Rs. 12,461.28 crore has been released since the inception of this scheme in 1993-94. The number of Court halls has increased from 15,818 (as on 30.06.2014) to 22,683 (as on 31.12.2025), and the number of residential units has increased from 10,211 (as on 30.06.2014) to 20,029 (as on 31.12.2025), under this Scheme.

v. Alternate Dispute Resolution methods have been promoted. The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 was amended in August, 2018 making Pre-institution Mediation and Settlement (PIMS) mandatory in case of commercial disputes. Amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been made by the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2015 for expediting the speedy resolution of disputes by prescribing timelines.vi. Lok Adalat is an important Alternative Disputes Resolution Mechanism available to common people, where the disputes/ cases pending in the court of law or at pre-litigation stage are settled/compromised amicably. Under The Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987, an award made by a Lok Adalat is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final and binding on all parties, and no appeal lies against it before any court. National Lok Adalats are organized simultaneously in all Taluks, Districts and High Courts on a pre-fixed date. The details of the cases disposed of in Lok Adalatsfrom 2016 to Dec 2025

are as under:

Pre-litigative Pending cases Lok Adalat cases 33,80,76,089 8,45,59,866 National Lok Adalat 39,33,548 67,03,159 State Lok Adalats Permanent Lok Adalats 14,58,389 - (cases relating to public utility service) vii. As per Article 39A of the Constitution of India and as a part of the preventive and strategic legal aid, National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) through the State Legal Services Authorities and District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) has undertaken several legal services activities in the country to ensure that legal aid reach the poor. To strengthen the criminal court based legal services, the Legal Aid Defense Counsel System (LADCS) Scheme has been introduced as a Central Sector Scheme by the Department of Justice, which involves full time engagement of Legal Aid Defense Counsels (LADCs) with supporting staff at district level. As on December 2025, Legal Aid Defense Counsel (LADC) offices are functional in 680 districts across the country. LADCS Scheme has been approved for the period of 3 financial years (2023-24 to 2025-26) with a total financial outlay Rs. 998.43 crore, and up to January 2026, Rs. 643.755 crore has been released to NALSA for LADCS Scheme. The details of

criminal cases assigned and disposed of by LADCs during the last three years are as follows:- Financial Criminal Cases assigned Criminal Cases Disposal Rate Year disposed 2023-24 3,36,830 2,12,505 63% 2024-25 5,32,413 3,72,750 70% 2025-26 3,93,614 2,86,326 73% (Dec. 2025) Total 12,62,857 8,71,581 69% *****