Platinum Award For Excellence In Digital Governance Conferred On e-Committee Of Supreme Court Of India

The Committee, of which Hon'ble Dr. Justice DY Chandrachud, Judge of the Supreme Court, is the Chairperson, with former Judge of Bombay High Court, Justice RC Chavan as Vice-Chairperson, has spearheaded the fundamental right to access to justice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Justice of India SA Bobde is the Patron-in-Chief of the Committee. Additionally, members of the Committee include Atul Madhukar Kurhekar, District Judge from Maharashtra Judicial Service, A. Ramesh Babu, District Judge from Tamil Nadu Judicial Service, Member Human Resource's R Arulmozhiselvi district judge from Tamil Nadu judicial service on deputation and Kuldeep Singh Kushwah from Madhya Pradesh.

The e-Courts project, implemented by the e-Committee, is a Mission Mode Project (MMP) of the Government of India. As of 14^th December, 2020, it has record 232,42,83,034 crore e-transactions with the average e-transaction for 343 days being 67.06 lakhs per day, thereby topping the MMP category.

The objective of the e-Court was to provide efficient and time-bound citizen-centric service delivery, to automate the judicial process to provide transparency in accessibility of information to its stakeholders, to enhance judicial productivity, and to make justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost-effective, predictable, reliable and transparent.

One of the key pillars of e-Courts is the availability of District and Subordinate Court Services as well as High Court Services, such as case status, cause list, and orders/judgements, to citizens and litigants. Total of 13.79 crore cases (pending and disposed) and 13.12 crore orders and judgements are available at the subordinate court level, and 2.54 crore cases (pending and disposed) and 48 lakhs order and judgements are available at the High Court level.

The Case Information System (CIS) application which caters to judicial automation has been implemented at 3293 district court complexes and 25 High Courts. The National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) has enabled judiciary and citizens to track pendency of cases in the country, thereby ensuring transparency in the system – it currently contains data of 13.23 cores cases from district and taluka courts.

e-Payment service has also been implemented which allows various stakeholders to pay court fees, fine, penalty and judicial deposits. An electronic mechanism by the name of National Service and Tracking of Electronic Process (NSTEP) has been instituted as a part of the project.

Further, information about individual district courts is s available at the District Courts Portal, with 688 number of district court websites being operational currently.

In order to reduce the footfall in courts by eliminating physical presence of violator or advocate, Virtual Courts have been established. Additionally, e-Filing provides a platform to advocates and litigants to file their cases online before High Courts and District Courts. This has also been integrated with the CIS application at the district court and High Court level.

Video Conferencing for Virtual Hearings have also taken place, with 15,90,918 cases being heard by the High Courts, and 39,56,840 cases being heard by the District Court. e-Sewa Kendras have been established in 19 High Courts and 219 District Court Complexes to assist people who are not tech-savvy.