Over 18,700 Lower Courts Digitized; Rs 7,210 Crore Approved for eCourts Phase III
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New Delhi, Dec 13 (NationPress) A total of 18,735 district and subordinate courts have been digitized as part of the e-courts Integrated Mission Mode Project, which is focused on improving access to justice through technology, the Parliament was informed on Friday.
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal, stated in Lok Sabha that the largest number of 2,222 district and subordinate courts were digitized in Uttar Pradesh under the guidance of the Allahabad High Court.
The second highest number of 2,157 lower courts were digitized under the supervision of the Bombay High Court in Maharashtra.
In addition, 1,363 courts were computerized in Madhya Pradesh, 1,268 in Gujarat, 1,240 in Rajasthan, 1,142 in Bihar, and another 1,363 in Karnataka.
MoS Meghwal announced that eCourts Phase III (2023-2027) was sanctioned by the Union Cabinet in September 2023 with an allocation of Rs 7,210 crore, which is more than four times the funding provided for Phase II.
This project plans to introduce various new digital initiatives, including setting up Digital and Paperless Courts to transition court proceedings into a digital format and digitizing court records (both legacy and pending cases).
Under eCourts Phase III, there will also be efforts to enhance video conferencing facilities across courts, jails, and hospitals, expand the scope of online courts beyond traffic violations, and ensure every court complex is equipped with eSewa kendras. Additionally, it will feature a modern Cloud-based data repository for efficient record retrieval, software applications, live streaming, and electronic evidence, along with the application of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and tools like Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analyzing case backlogs and predicting future litigation.
A new “Judgment Search” portal has been launched, allowing users to search by Bench, Case Type, Case Number, Year, Petitioner/ Respondent Name, Judge Name, Act, Section, Decision: From (Date), To (Date), and Full Text Search. This service is available to all at no cost, as stated by the MoS.
As part of the initiative, 605 training and awareness programs on the ICT services associated with the eCourts project have been conducted from May 2020 to October 2024, reaching nearly 664,144 stakeholders, including High Court Judges, District Judiciary Judges, Court Staff, Master Trainers among Judges/DSA, Technical Staff of High Courts, and Advocates, as reported to the House.
