e-Courts Phase III

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has approved the e-Courts Project Phase III as a Central Sector Scheme spanning four years with financial outlay of Rs.7210 crore.

About e-Courts Project:

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• The e-Courts project digitizes many court processes to provide efficient and time bound, litigant centric, affordable, accessible, transparent and accountable justice delivery system.
• It was conceptualized on the basis of the “National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Indian Judiciary – 2005”.
• The National Policy was submitted by eCommittee set up by Government of India on proposal of Chief Justice of India with a vision to transform the Indian Judiciary by ICT enablement of Courts.
• The services under the project cater to all key stakeholders including the Judiciary, the High Courts, the District and Subordinate Courts and the Citizens / Litigants / Lawyers / Advocates.
• The automation of Case Management increases the visibility and helps courts in speedy disposal of cases.
• The centralized portals for Districts and Subordinate courts and High Courts are providing case, orders and judgments information to citizens.

Key objectives:

• To develop, install & implement decision support systems in courts.
• To automate the processes to provide transparency in accessibility of information to its stakeholders.
• To enhance judicial productivity, both qualitatively & quantitatively, to make the justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost effective, predictable, reliable and transparent.

Phase-I of the project:

• In Phase-I of the e-Courts Project began in 2007, under which Court Complexes, and Judicial Service Centres were set up for computerization of the District Courts.
• The District and Taluka Court Complexes covered in Phase-I were computerized with installation of hardware, LAN (Local area network) and Case Information Software (CIS), for providing basic case related services to the litigants and the lawyers.
• A large number of District Courts launched their websites for the convenience of the different stakeholders.
• Change Management exercise was undertaken to train the Judicial Officers and Court Staff in the use of computers and Case Information System (CIS).

Phase-II of the project:

• In Phase-II, the covered courts are provisioned additional hardware, whereas the uncovered Courts of Phase-I and the newly established Courts were provisioned hardware, LAN etc.
• It provides for High Courts as Implementing Agency, of the project under its jurisdiction.
• Along with the implementation of Free and Open-Source Solutions (FOSS), Phase-II has adopted the Core-Periphery model of Case Information Software, the core being Unified as National Core, while the periphery developed according to requirement of each High Court.

Phase-III of the project:

• With the conclusion of Phase II in 2023, phase III of the e-Courts Project was launched.
• Phase III of the e-Courts Project in India is rooted in philosophy of “access and inclusion“.

Objectives:

• The e-Courts Phase-III aims to usher in a regime of maximum ease of justice by moving towards digital, online and paperless courts.
  • It plans to achieve this through digitization of the entire court records including legacy records and by bringing in universalization of e-Filing/ e-Payments through saturation of all court complexes with e-Sewa Kendras.
• It will set up intelligent smart systems by enabling data-based decision making for judges and registries while scheduling or prioritizing cases.
• It will help create a unified technology platform for the judiciary, which will provide a seamless and paperless interface between the courts, the litigants and other stakeholders.

Implementation:

• The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of eCourts Phase III is being implemented under the joint partnership of Department of Justice, Ministry of Law & Justice, Government of India and eCommittee, Supreme Court of India.
• The scheme will be implemented in a decentralized manner through the respective High Courts to develop a judicial system that would promote ease of justice by making the system more accessible, affordable, reliable, predictable, and transparent for all stakeholders.

Expected outcomes of Phase-III:

• Digitization of court records enables processes to become more environmental friendly by minimizing paper-based filings and reducing the physical movement of documents.
• Virtual participation in the court proceedings thus reducing costs associated with court proceedings, such as travel expenses for witnesses, judges, and other stakeholders.
• Payment of court fees, fines and penalties from anywhere, anytime.
• Expansion of eFiling for reducing the time and effort required to file documents.
• Minimizing human errors as documents are automatically checked and also prevent further creation of paper based records.
• Use of latest technologies like Al and its subsets to provide a smoother user experience by building a “smart” ecosystem.

Ref: Source