The Year 2020 has seen very significant initiatives by the Department of Justice of Union Ministry of Law and Justice. Apart from filling up vacancies in the High Courts, a number of steps were taken to expedite delivery of justice and court case resolutions, especially in view of the difficult situation caused by COVID-19 pandemic. 

    1. Appointment and transfer of Judges

        a. 66 fresh Judges were appointed in the High Courts.

        b. 90 Additional Judges were made permanent in High Courts.

        c. Tenure of 3 Additional Judges tenure was extended

        d. 3 Chief Justices were appointed

    2. E-Courts Mission Mode Project and Digitisation initiatives

        a. As part of the National eGovernance Plan and based on the “National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology in the Indian Judiciary”, e-Court Integrated Mission Mode Project was launched with the objective of improving access to justice using technology.

        b. Under this project, 16,845 courts, across the country, have been computerised, so far with software compatibility and interoperability.

        c. Under the Wide Area Network (WAN) Project under eCourts project is aimed at connecting all District and Subordinate court complexes, spread across the country using various technologies like OFC, RF, VSAT.

        d. Case Information Software (CIS) which forms the basis for the e court services is based on customized Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) which has been developed by NIC.

        e. Every single case has been provided a Unique Identification code which is called CNR number and QR Code. 

        f. This has led to the development of National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) as a new communication pipeline for judicial data transmission.

        g. Nine virtual Courts have been set up at Delhi (2 courts), Faridabad (Haryana), Pune & Nagpur (Maharashtra) Kochi (Kerala), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Gauhati (Assam) and Bengaluru (Karnataka) to try traffic offences.

        h. The concept of Virtual Court is aimed at reducing the footfalls in the court by eliminating the presence of the violator or advocate in the court. It can be managed by a virtual judge (which is not a person but an algorithm) whose jurisdiction can be extended to the entire state and working hours can be 24X7.

        i. Video conferencing emerged as the mainstay of the Courts during the Covid lockdown period as physical hearings and normal court proceedings in the congregational mode were not possible.

        j. Since, Covid lockdown started, the District courts heard 35,93,831 cases while the High Court heard 13,74,048 cases (totalling to 49.67 lakh) till 28.10.2020 using video conferencing only.

        k. The Supreme Court had nearly 30,000 video conferencing hearings during the lockdown period.

        l. Live Streaming of video conferencing of proceedings has also been started in Kerala, Bombay and Delhi thus allowing media and other interested persons to join the proceedings.

        m. An e-filing system (version 1.0) has been rolled out for the electronic filing of legal papers. This allows the lawyers to access and upload documents related to the cases from any location 24X7 which makes coming to the court for filing of papers unnecessary.

        n. e-Filing of cases requires facilities for ePayments of Court Fees which includes court fees, fines and penalties which are directly payable to the Consolidated Fund. 

        o. Online payment of court fees, fines, penalties and judicial deposits has been initiated through https://pay.ecourts.gov.in.

        p. As part of eCourt project, 7 platforms have been created to provide real time information on case status, cause lists, judgements etc. to lawyers/Litigants  through SMS Push and Pull (1,42,000 SMS sent daily), Email (2,00,000 sent daily), multilingual and tactile eCourts services Portal (25 lakh  hits daily), JSC (Judicial Service centres) and Info Kiosks. 

        q. On the National eTaal, the eCourts services portal has recorded 224.41 Crore transactions during the year making it the lead Mission Mode Project. 

        r. National Service and Tracking of Electronic Processes (NSTEP) has been launched for technology enabled process serving and issuing of summons. 

        s. A GPS enabled device is given to the Bailiff for the service of summons leading to greater transparency and speedy delivery of processes. It provides real time status update of service of summons besides tracking of geographical coordinates of the process server at the time of serving.

        t. A new software patch and court user manual for COVID-19 management has also been developed which will help in smart scheduling of cases thereby enabling judicial officers to retain urgent cases and adjourn cases not urgent on cause list. 

        u. To make effective use of database created through National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) and to make the information available to public, LED Display Message Sign Board System called Justice Clocks have been installed in 18 High Courts.

        v. The purpose of Justice Clock is to bring awareness to the public about justice sector, advertising the various schemes of the department and to give status of various fields to the public.

        w. A website has been launched exclusively for the e-Committee. This website disseminates the e-Courts Project related information to all stakeholders.  Provision has been made for the High Courts to upload their achievements and their best practices.

    3. Implementation of reforms to improve Enforcing Contracts Regime

        a. Department of Justice in coordination with eCommittee of Supreme Court of India and High Courts of Delhi and Mumbai have taken multiple initiatives to improve Ease of Doing Business.

        b. 22 Dedicated Commercial courts in Delhi and 4 dedicated commercial courts in Mumbai are fully operational.

        c. 22 Dedicated Commercial courts in Delhi and 4 dedicated commercial courts in Mumbai are fully operational.

        d. Online course on Business and Commercial Litigation was launched by National Law University, Delhi in collaboration with Department of Justice.

        e. Eight (8) Electronic Case management tools for Judges and seven (7) Electronic Case management tools for advocates have been integrated in one single platform and the same are available on eCourt Services portal and mobile app.

        f. On the initiative of Department of Justice and eCommittee of Supreme Court for linkage of property registration with court proceedings, Department of Land Resources has constituted a committee to examine implementation of the same by drafting Standard Operating Procedures(SoPs) and to launch pilot project.

    4. Tele-Law

        a. This is a unique digital initiative of the Government of India, launched in April, 2017, which primarily aims to address the cases at pre-litigation stage. 

        b. It seeks to provide free legal advice to the marginalized sections of the society.

        c. Para Legal Volunteers are engaged to facilitate beneficiaries to approach the CSCs to register their cases for seeking advice.

        d. It is currently operational in 29860 CSCs covering 285 districts across 29 States/UT in the country including 115 Aspirational Districts. 

        e. A Tele-law dashboard (http://www.tele-law.in/) provides real-time data on number of cases registered & advice enabled which is available in 22 languages.

        f. Radio jingle developed for the promotion of the programme in 22 languages was aired through All India Radio in all the 285 Districts for one month during September 2020.

        g. E-booklet on Tele-Law titled “Voices of the Beneficiaries”, a collection of real life stories and benefits received under the Tele-Law programme has been released and uploaded on DoJ and Tele-Law website.

    5. Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services)

        a. This programme aims to provide free legal assistance and counsel to the persons eligible under section 12 of Legal Service Authorities Act, 1987.

        b. This service is provided by advocates who are registered with DoJ to volunteer their time and services for representing cases of registered applicants/litigants.2243 lawyers have registered and 875 cases have been assigned so far under this programme.

        c. Nyaya Bandu mobile app is available on Android, iOS and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s platform UMANG – making its services available to their more than 2.0 Cr registered users.

        d. In order to institutionalize the pro bono legal framework in the country, Pro Bono Club Scheme in Law schools has been launched.

    6. Access to Justice for the North East and Jammu & Kashmir

        a. The “Access to Justice – North Eastern States and Jammu & Kashmir” programme is being implemented in eight states of North East (including Sikkim) and in UT of Jammu & Kashmir since 2012.

        b. The objective of the programme is to create legal awareness, improve legal literacy and address the legal needs of the marginalized and vulnerable sections of the society like women, children, SCs and STs.

    7. National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)

        a. NALSA strengthened the National Legal Aid Helpline (15100) and the State Legal Aid Helpline numbers for facilitating easy accessibility of legal aid institutions to the common people.

        b. NALSA in collaboration with the National Commission for Women launched a project, “Empowering Women through Legal Awareness”.

        c. Organised by Legal Services Authorities, LokAdalats (State as well as National) are an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mode wherein pre-litigation and pending cases in the courts are disposed on the basis of amicable settlement without any expense on the part of litigants.

    8. Setting up of Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs)

        a. As safety of women and children is a matter of paramount concern the Department of Justice is implementing a Scheme for setting up of 1023 FTSCs across the country for expeditious trial and disposal of pending cases related to rape and POCSO Act.

        b. 597 FTSCS with 321 exclusive POCSO courts have been made operational till date.

    9. Implementation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary and the Scheme of operationalization of Gram Nyayalayas

        a. Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary aims to increase the availability of suitable number of Court Halls and Residential Accommodations for Judges / Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts all over the country including at District, Sub-District, Taluka, Tehsil and Gram Panchayat and Village levels.

        b. The purpose of Scheme of operationalization of Gram Nyayalayas is to provide access to justice for the people belonging to marginalized section of the society thereby reducing their dependence on Extra- judicial systems and further to reduce the workload of the higher courts. 

        c. A sum of Rs. 7975.81 crore has been sanctioned since the inception of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for development of infrastructure facilities for judiciary of which Rs. 4531.50 crore since 2014-15 which is around 56.82% of the total release under the Scheme.

        d. During the current financial year 2020-2021 a sum of Rs. 754.00 crore has been allocated of which a sum of Rs. 243.56 crore has been sanctioned.

        e. Nyaya Vikas 2.0 was launched as an online tool for monitoring of construction projects.

    10. Citizens’ Duties Awareness Programme

        a. For this purpose, in its responsibility as the nodal coordinating department, Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice has undertaken specific concerted initiatives to create awareness for organizing year long activities and programmes related to Citizens’ Duties including Fundamental Duties.

        b. Being implemented by all Departments/ Ministries of Government of India, States/UTs, Judiciary, NSS/NYK Volunteers, as well as with active participation from Indian citizens across India and NRIs overseas, this program has leveraged technological tools including conduct of Online Preamble Reading (21.86 lakh), Online Pledge taking (1.90 lakh), Webinars (10,600), Special E-tickets (14.5 Cr), Social Media (10.95 Cr) amongst many others.

    11. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Morocco

A Memorandum of Understanding on Judicial Sector Co-operation was signed between Supreme Court of India and Supreme Council of the Judicial Power of the Kingdom of Morocco on 24.07.2020 in Rabat, to allow both parties to exchange and benefit from their experiences and expertise in the field of computer and digital technologies.

    12. Second National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC)

        a. The Supreme Court of India has directed to appoint a Judicial Pay Commission to review the pay scales, emoluments and service conditions of the Judicial Officers of Subordinate Judiciary in India.

        b. The purpose is to over the years to improve the service conditions of subordinate judicial officers.

        c. Accordingly, Second National Judicial Pay commission has been established under the Chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) P.V. Reddi of the Supreme Court.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)