World Bank Lauds National Judicial Data Grid In Ease Of Doing Business Report

India saw a momentous 30 rank jump in the Ease of Doing Business report for 2018, ranking at 100 out of 190 countries. What is also noteworthy is that the report categorically lauds creation of the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG).

Released by the World Bank, the report states that the introduction of the Grid "made it possible to generate case management reports on local courts, thereby making it easier to enforce contracts".

Meanwhile, Justice M.B. Lokur, who heads the Supreme Court e-Committee, recently announced that all High Courts in the country will go digital by the year end under the NJDG. The next step, he said, would be implementation of e-filing, with the liberty to purchase the stamp fee online.

The e-Courts National portal (ecourts.gov.in) was launched in August, 2013. More than 2852 Districts and Taluka Court Complexes have since secured their presence on the NJDG portal. Further, at present, the NJDG holds data of more than 7 crore pending and disposed of cases and 3.3 crore orders/judgments of District Courts.

Explaining the significance of the Portal, the website states, "With dynamic real time data generated and updated continuously, the NJDG is serving as a source of information of judicial delivery system for all the stakeholders. It is regularly analyzed for meaningful assistance in policy formation and decision making. The NJDG is working as National data warehouse for case data including the orders/judgments for Courts across the country with full coverage of District Courts."