E-Courts Project: Judges To Get Unique Identification Numbers To Track Performance And Update Judgments

As a part of the ongoing implementation of the second phase of the e-Courts project, the Government has decided to allocate unique identification numbers to all Judges in the country, to aid the Supreme Court in tracking their performance and making their judgments available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG).

The NJDG would consist of details such as the quality of judgments, number of adjournments allowed in different cases, time taken for delivery of judgments, case disposal rate, etc.

The National Informatics Centre has been asked to work in the unique IDs, as well as on authenticating digital signatures of Judges. The Courts would also be updated to the latest software of the Case Information System.

CIS 2.0 contains additional fields where it will be mandatory for Judges to provide details of daily proceedings in each case. It further requires Judges to specify the nature of proceedings on a daily basis in the online log sheet, as well as mention reasons for non-transaction of business.

The eCourts Integrated Mission Mode Project has been conceptualized on the basis of the “National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology in the Indian Judiciary-2005” by the eCommittee of the Supreme Court of India. The eCommittee was formed in 2004 to draw up an action plan for the ICT enablement of the Judiciary with the Patron in Chief-cum-Ad hoc Chairman as the Chief Justice of India.

Under Phase I of the eCourts Integrated Mission Mode Project, National eCourts portal have became operational. The figures of pendency of District Judiciary Courts across the country, in aggregate for country and States as well as individual Court/Judges are left open for being accessed by anyone visiting the National eCourts portal ecourts.gov.in. You may read more about the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), here.

Phase II of the project was approved in January, 2014. It aims to computerize around 5751 new courts within a project timeline of three years. It further aims to create a robust Court Management System through digitization, document management, judicial knowledge management and learning tools. Installation of Cloud network and solar energy resource at Court Complexes has also been planned to be achieved.

This article has been made possible because of financial support from Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation.