e-Courts

Services:

• List of 8 services is to be provided under this project
• Online availability of judgments, cause list etc.
• e-filing of cases
• Notices through emails provided clients email ID is available

Status

•e-Court monitoring Committee constituted to oversee implementation – December 2004.
•National Policy and action plan for implementation of ICT in Indian Judiciary
formulated by e-Committee
•700 courts in Metro cities covered.
•900 Courts in capital cities barring North- East, Ahmedabad, Patna covered.
•Cabinet has approved the scheme for covering 2100 court complexes:
approved Rs. 442 crore to be completed in 2 years.
•NIC to implement project under overall guidance of e-Committee.

The Indian judiciary comprises of nearly 15,000 courts situated in approximately 2,500 court complexes throughout the country. In the Indian Judiciary, effort for computerization of some of its processes has been going on since 1990. From 2001-03, 700 city courts in four metros were computerised and during 2003-04, computerisation of another 900 courts were undertaken.

A need was felt to make the programme of ICT enablement of the Indian Judiciary mission-critical. Under NeGP as a Mission Mode Project, it is proposed to implement ICT in Indian judiciary in three phases over a period of five years. The project scope is to develop, deliver, install and implement automated decision making and decision support system in 700 courts of Delhi, Bombay, Kolkata & Chennai; 900 courts in the 29 capital city courts of states and UTs and 13000 district and subordinate courts. The objectives of the project are:

•To help judicial administration of the courts in streamlining their day-to-day
activities
•To assist judicial administration in reducing the pendency of cases
•To provide transparency of information to the litigants
•To provide access to legal and judicial databases to the judges.

Create e-governance grid: Dr. A. P. J. Kalam National e-Governance Plan to link about 15,000 courts Computerisation of High Courts and district courts essential for development of e-judiciary system New Delhi: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Monday 9th July, 2007 suggested creation of e-judiciary by establishing “Judicial e-Governance Grid” from the district courts to the apex court for covering the whole judicial system in the country. In three phases The Supreme Court has undertaken the “e-courts” efforts in three phases as a mission mode project under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) for linking about 15,000 courts in the country. It is planned to provide necessary infrastructure and concentrate on capacity building, judicial process from filing to execution and finally making the information available online between the courts, prosecuting and investigating agencies, prisons, land records and registration offices thereby accelerating disposal of civil and criminal cases. Inaugurating the national e-courts project organised by the Supreme Court, Mr. Kalam said, “The Grid will ensure seamless flow of information and case objects across the inter-departmental barrier in a G2G mode across the vertical grid. This will be supported by the other horizontal e-Governance grid from the State and Central Government related to the particular case object which will facilitate the case objects to flow across the judicial process at various stages ensuring the speed, transparency and inter-operability thereby eliminating duplicity and ensuring speedy justice.” Enhancing efficiency He said, “Computerisation of the High Courts and the District Courts is essential for the development of e-judiciary system. From the time the case is filed till it is disposed of with judgment, the entire processing must take place electronically. This will enable easy search, retrieval, grouping, information processing, judicial record processing and disposal of the cases. The proposed action for connecting all the 15,000 courts from the District Court to the Supreme Court through a Wide Area Network will further enhance the efficiency of the judicial system. The e-Judiciary initiative within the overall justice delivery system should help in transforming the Court service into a better focused system in meeting the needs of the citizens in a transparent manner and enable quicker disposal of cases.” The Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan explained the initiatives taken by the apex court towards establishment of e-courts in the country. Source: http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/10/stories/2007071060751200.htm

Speedy Justice through Video Conferencing in Bihar More often than not, justice is delayed as under trials languishing in the jails for petty crimes fail to be produced before the court on time due to lack of adequate number of transportation vehicles and shortage of police men etc. This is one of major reasons that the court cases are piled up and jails are overloaded day by day. Patna High Court’s Vision The challenge was thus before the judiciary and it was taken up in right spirit by Chief Justice of Patna High Court Mr. Justice Ravi S. Dhavan. By selecting the right kind of tools from the range that modern information technology has to offer, he set out on a mission of bringing justice to the doorstep of the under trials who needed it most. With the help from NIC Mr. Ravi S. Dhavan earned Bihar the honour of becoming the very first state in India demonstrated successfully how video conferencing could help deliver speedier justice and solve a large part of the problem of pending cases with the judiciary. Video Conferencing at Patna On the eve of a day as auspicious as the Independence Day, the Civil Court at Patna and the Beur Central Jail were connected through Video Conferencing and the trials began over the video link from 16 August, 2001. A total of 1077 under trial prisoners had volunteered to record their statement over video link. Of those who were interviewed and had their statements recorded, 130 were released. Thus in a matter of Video Conferencing for just four days, a total of 113 cases were disposed off and a total of 135 prisoners received the benefit of pre-trial release. The second session which was organized from 6th September 2001 to 19th September 2001, resulted in disposal of 90 odd cases. Video Conferencing at Muzaffarpur The Video Conferencing Technology was connected the District Courts with the jails directly so as to allow smooth operation of trials to be undertaken by the Magistrate without having to move the prisoners, was enough to give needed boost to this novel experiment and thus the same facility was replicated by NIC at Muzaffarpur district of Bihar for the benefit of the under trials. The technology was used not only to deliver due justice quickly but also to hear and address the grievances of the prisoners. Video Conferencing at Hazipur The trials for the under trials begin at Hazipur from over video link on January 1, 2002 and continued for 9 days covering 507 statements of under trials. The same exercise is going on at the Begusarai. Benefits • It will accelerate the case disposal rate of civil court by releasing the under trials. • Releasing the under trials, will reduce the jail crowd. • It will also cover the social aspect of Human Right Commission by talking face to face with under trials about their problems. • Saving expenses on transportation of under trials and also minimizes the risk of their fleeing. Source: NIC, Bihar Unit

e-Justice e-Justice (http://www.ejustice.org.in/home.do ), a pilot initiative funded by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a citizen centric approach for providing access to justice through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It will help to provide a crucial link between rule of law, poverty eradication, human rights and sustainable human development and to provide better access to justice. The project aims at promoting legal awareness through an electronic interface by presenting the key legislations in a simple manner and by simplifying relevant judgments, certain procedural regulations and enlightening on the existence of alternative remedies and making the same available to the general public through information Kiosks etc Services: The e-Justice project will enable access to legal information provided in a simple manner, through Kiosks set up in select places in the district of Mahabubnagar. The Pilot project is launched at Shadnagar and will be followed by kiosks at Gadwal, Nagarkurnool and Narayanpet. The public at large can approach them and obtain the required information. The e-Justice website can also be accessed from anywhere in Mahabubnagar district where Internet facility is available. Being a pilot project, the website services have been limited to the district of Mahabubnagar as on date. Special emphasis has been made to focus on problems faced by women, children and other marginalized sections of the society. Accordingly, land related laws, women related laws, labour laws and general laws affecting the common man in his day to day life have been included. More laws will be updated as the access to the kiosk increases. The information available to the citizens will make them aware of the law involved in the issue, the process for solution and the various modes of redressal available, whether through the courts or through Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanisms such as Lok Adalats, assistance of Legal Services Authorities, the Human Rights Commission or various civil society organizations. The e-Justice portal will also facilitate the citizen to send queries to the legal experts at CGG or file an online application to the Legal Services Authority or the Revenue Courts wherever applicable seeking its involvement in guiding him/her through the proper mode of resolving the problem. Once the concerned authority considers the person eligible for its services, then depending on the nature of the grievance, it will propose the options available, i.e., whether the dispute is entitled to be referred only to the Court System or to Lok Adalats. The concerned Authority will direct the case to any of the advocates on its panel to represent the citizen in the appropriate forum. A mechanism will be put in place to ensure that the advocate is required to submit a report on proceedings of every hearing to the concerned Authority who shall in turn forward the same report to the web portal which can be accessed by the concerned citizen to know the status of his case. Services you can avail at the kiosk: Obtain the required legal information. Take a print out of the information if necessary. Send queries to legal experts at CGG, the Legal Services Authority or any other authority. Send online application of your legal problem to the concerned authority. Check the status of your case if the concerned authority has accepted your application. To know more about e-Justice, please Click on: http://www.ejustice.org.in/home.do

List of Business Information System (LOBIS) It is about scheduling of cases to be heard by the courts on the following day. It enabled the Registries of Supreme Court and High Courts in eliminating manual process of Cause List generation thus any manipulation by vested interests. These databases contain details of fresh cases, disposed and pending cases. It is the backbone application of every Court. Impact: As Cause Lists are generated automatically by the computer manual intervention has been eliminated resulting in generation of Cause List in time without any hassle. Cases are listed strictly in chronological order of date of filing; eliminated irregularities. All cases having the same law point(s) to be decided by the courts are bunched/grouped and posted before one bench. This has helped the courts in faster disposal of cases. It has become simpler to recall dismissed cases when review petitions are filed. On the spot reliable and instantaneous statistical reports are generated. It has helped Registry of Supreme Court in streamlining its day-to-day activities to achieve one of the main objectives of COURTIS Project Filing Counter Computerization In the Supreme Court of India and all High Courts fresh cases are filed only before the computerized Filing Counters. As the advocates stand in queue for filing cases before the counters, the data entry Operator enters preliminary details required for Registration such as Party names, advocate details, etc. The computer terminal at the query counter is used to attend to the quarries of the litigants on the spot. The defects, if any, are listed out and handed over to the litigants/advocates for rectification. Time limitation is also checked by the system automatically. Impact The filing process is made easy. The advocates/litigants need not wait for a long time in the queue. The amount collected towards Court fee in a day is automatically calculated thus saving the time of court official’s time. Query counter avoids the litigants go around the sections to find out the Filing status. Filing process is orderly. Saves time and efforts of advocates and court officials.

News Update Implementation of e-Courts Project Government of India approved the e-courts project in February 2007 and the first phase is already under implementation. National Informatics Centre (NIC), which is the implementing agency for this project, has reported that hitherto, laptops to 12155 judges across the country have been provided and around 13000 laser printers are getting delivered for those laptops. Three months’ training on the usage of computers has already begun and 1210 faculty members are training so far 8700 judicial officers and around 32000 court staff. This training is going on at majority of the District Courts and in some of the Taluka/Tehsil Courts. The High Courts have constituted Project Monitoring Committees to oversee the project activities in the District/Taluka Courts under their jurisdiction. Many High Courts have also constituted Committees for getting site preparation executed with the help of State Public Works Department. For around 13000 judges E-mail/Internet facility is being provided through Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. It would inter link all the courts across the country and help the litigants to have access to authorized documents. The entire project is scheduled to be implemented by February 2009 across the country including in the districts of Orissa. Minister of Law and Justice, Shri H. R. Bhardwaj gave this information in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on November 19, 2007. http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=32789 e-Lock Digital Signature product deployed at the High Courts of India e-Lock has deployed multiple licenses of its Digital Signature product to the High Courts of India. DeskSeal Desktop is a desktop-based digital signing utility that signs files of any format. Based on wizard, the product allows users to digitally sign and easily verify files. This product is PKCS#7 compliant, which enables users to abide by the regulations laid by e-signature laws worldwide. e-Lock has been providing its products & solutions to several other Government entities to fulfill this objective. Tele-justice bridges India's courts and jails Tele-justice’ is a nation-wide project initiated by Government of India to connect all the jails and district courts across the country. The initiative enables the accused to be present in a court through video link, established on ISDN lines between prison and court. Through ‘tele-justice’ the legal professionals, court officials, inmates and witnesses will be able to seamlessly communicate face-to-face in real-time. It also helps to connect more than one courtroom during a trial, and enables the use of more than one application. The system provides a simple user interface, which allows non-technical users such as judges and court staff, to easily operate and maintain the judicial video conferencing system. Indian States like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Bihar have already introduced tele-justice. In Maharashtra, more than 40 jails in and around Mumbai are connected to district level courts through video conferencing. The government is planning to connect 300 jails 2,000 courts through video-conferencing. Andhra Pradesh was one of the first Indian states to introduce these electronic trails, connecting 15 district courts with prisons and installing 31 video end points. Polycom, a global player in unified collaborative communications, is to deploy video conferencing equipment across various judiciaries and prisons in India. Source: http://www.i4donline.net/news/ news-details.asp?catid=6&newsid=13710 Dist courts cast a web, to now upload orders in Hindi In an effort to reach out the masses, Delhi's district and lower courts have come with a Hindi website also. This initiative was taken up by the Hindi Karyanvan Samiti (Hindi Implementation Committee) and it would be inaugurated on December 3, 2007. The website can be accessed through a link given in the current website as well as directly at www.delhidistrictcourts.nic.in/hindi/index.htm. In the first phase, the website will give details about cases, the court calendar, history, information about the bar association in Hindi. In the second phase, circulars and forms and performas will also available online in Hindi. Apart from the Hindi website, the Hindi Implementation Centre of the District Courts has also introduced a Hindi user's manual for those coming to the courts. India to pursue Bill for Village Courts In its bid to reduce considerable number of pending cases in subordinate judiciary, the Union Cabinet of India on Thursday gave its approval for further pursuing the Gram Nyayalayas Bill, 2007 in Parliament. The Cabinet also decided to move the Bill in the Upper House, Rajya Sabha, with certain Official Amendments. This Legislation is aimed at establishing a system of judiciary that will be less expensive, free from protracted procedural wrangles, quick and available at the grass-roots level. The new system is also expected to be more accessible to the common man and render justice as enshrined in article 39A of the Constitution. India e-Courts project Monitoring Committee gets extension Cabinet has extended the term of the e-Committee for monitoring the implementation of the ongoing e-courts project till to February 2009, or till the time its work is completed. The e-courts project in India is aimed at interlinking all the courts across the country to help litigants have faster access to authorised documents. As per the project, National Informatics Centre (NIC) has already provided laptops to 12,155 judges across the country and is presently in the process of installing nearly 13,000 laser printers for the judges. The Cabinet also approved the modification to enable the Chief justice of India (CJI) appoint a retired Chief Justice or a retired Judge of any High Court as the Chairman of the committee. The modification gives the CJI a free hand in selection and appointment of members and mandates that they shall be appointed either on deputation or on contract basis. Source: http://www.igovernment.in/site/committee- monitoring-india-e-courts-project-gets-extension-2/