Loading…
A PIB Backgrounder reviews the e-Courts Mission Mode Project, launched in 2007 to move India's paper-based judiciary to a digital, trackable system; it is now in Phase III (2023-2027) with an outlay of Rs 7,210 crore.
Over 753 crore pages of court records have been digitised, and courts have conducted more than 4.18 crore remote hearings through video conferencing.
Video conferencing now covers 7,553 establishments including courts, jails and hospitals; e-filing is available in 4,519 courts and NSTEP in 6,895 courts.
The National Judicial Data Grid, launched under Phase II, is the public dashboard that made case pendency visible for the first time, with separate dashboards for the Supreme Court, High Courts and District Courts.
Of the Rs 7,210 crore Phase III outlay, Rs 53.57 crore is earmarked for artificial intelligence and machine learning in High Courts through 2027.
e-Committee of the Supreme Court of India constituted under Justice G. C. Bharuka, on the proposal of CJI Justice R. C. Lahoti
National Policy and Action Plan for ICT in the Indian Judiciary adopted
e-Courts Mission Mode Project launched
Phase I: over 14,000 courts computerised and basic network infrastructure built
National Judicial Data Grid launched for District Courts
Phase II: NJDG, e-Filing and e-Sewa Kendras introduced; video conferencing expanded more than fivefold
NJDG extended to the High Courts
Supreme Court data brought onto the NJDG portal
Phase III: digital and paperless courts, legacy record digitisation, AI and OCR adoption, Rs 7,210 crore outlay
Nyaya Shruti launched under the Interoperable Criminal Justice System for virtual testimony
Digitise court proceedings and records to make justice delivery faster, cheaper and more transparent
Key: Launched 2007; run jointly by the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice and the e-Committee, Supreme Court of India; Phase III (2023-2027) has an outlay of Rs 7,210 crore
Make pendency and disposal data of courts publicly visible in real time
Key: Developed by the National Informatics Centre under the e-Committee; launched for District Courts in September 2015, extended to High Courts in July 2020, with Supreme Court data added from 2023; carries three separate dashboards
Allow court documents to be filed and fees paid online from anywhere
Key: Works across District Courts, High Courts and the Supreme Court in English and regional languages; supports e-signing, online vakalatnamas and video recording of oaths; over 1.25 crore cases filed till 30 June 2026
Bridge the digital divide with physical help desks inside court complexes
Key: Assist with case status, certified copies, e-filing, e-stamp papers, Aadhaar-based digital signatures, eMulakat jail-visit bookings and referrals to Legal Services Authorities for free legal aid
Adjudicate traffic challans and petty offences online without physical appearance
Key: 31 Virtual Courts established; 11.33 crore challans received amounting to Rs 1,135.79 crore
Replace paper-based service of summons with a trackable digital process
Key: A centralised, GPS-enabled web and mobile application used by bailiffs; available in 6,895 courts
Enable virtual appearance and testimony in criminal proceedings
Key: Launched in 2024 under the Interoperable Criminal Justice System; covers accused persons, witnesses, police officials, prosecutors, scientific experts and prisoners
Let police, courts, prisons, forensics and prosecution exchange records electronically
Key: Initiated in 2013 as a continuation of CCTNS and implemented by the National Crime Records Bureau; all High Courts have implemented ICJS; Phase II was approved at Rs 3,375 crore for 2022-23 to 2025-26
Computerise police processes from FIR to charge sheet
Key: Launched in 2009 and implemented by the National Crime Records Bureau with the National Informatics Centre; carries Nyaya Sanhita-linked deadline alerts for investigating officers
Provide a searchable national database of crime and criminal fingerprints
Key: Developed by the National Crime Records Bureau and inaugurated by the Union Home Minister on 17 August 2022 in New Delhi
Digitise the remaining links of the criminal justice chain
Key: ITSSO tracks sexual-offence investigations against charge-sheet deadlines; e-Sakshya manages digital evidence; e-Summons handles electronic summons; MedLEaPR covers medico-legal and postmortem reporting; e-Forensic, e-Prison and e-Prosecution digitise forensic labs, prisons and prosecution workflows
Frames policy for ICT in the judiciary and steers the e-Courts project; constituted in 2004 and author of the 2005 National Policy and Action Plan
Central government partner implementing the e-Courts project jointly with the e-Committee, through the High Courts
Developed the National Judicial Data Grid and provides the technology backbone for court digitisation; also partners the NCRB on CCTNS
Implements CCTNS, ICJS and NAFIS on the police side of the criminal justice chain
Provides free legal services and organises Lok Adalats; e-Sewa Kendras route litigants to the District, High Court and Supreme Court Legal Services Authorities for free legal aid
Developing the Learning Management System for the mission, and built the AI tool that flags defects in e-filed petitions
A Directive Principle requiring the State to secure equal justice and free legal aid so that no citizen is denied justice by reason of economic or other disability — the constitutional anchor for the free legal aid that e-Sewa Kendras direct litigants towards
Created NALSA and the State and District Legal Services Authorities and provided for Lok Adalats; enacted in 1987 but brought into force on 9 November 1995 after amendments in 1994
The policy document prepared by the e-Committee that the e-Courts project was engineered under
The NJDG is a public online dashboard that tracks orders, judgments and case details across the judiciary in real time. It reports how many cases are pending and disposed in the High Courts and subordinate courts, breaks cases down by category and by stage of proceeding (admission, hearing, judgment, disposal), and records the reasons for delay — parties not appearing, documents pending, stays granted — along with how long each delay has lasted. Its significance is constitutional rather than merely administrative: pendency that was previously invisible became a published number, which is what allows High Court judges, District Judges and registries to plan and monitor judicial work remotely.
Simple Analogy: Think of it as a live arrivals-and-departures board for court cases: anyone can see what is waiting, what has moved, and exactly where the queue is stuck.
| Aspect | Phase I | Phase II | Phase III |
|---|---|---|---|
| Period | 2011-2015 | 2015-2023 | 2023-2027 |
| Core aim | Computerise courts and build basic network infrastructure | Citizen-centric digital services | Digital, paperless and intelligent courts |
| Signature deliverables | Over 14,000 courts computerised | NJDG, e-Filing, e-Sewa Kendras; video conferencing expanded more than fivefold | Large-scale legacy record digitisation, wider virtual hearings, AI, analytics and OCR |
| Outlay stated in the Backgrounder | Not stated in the release | Not stated in the release | Rs 7,210 crore, of which Rs 53.57 crore is for AI and ML |
Article 39A read with the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 makes free legal aid a State obligation; e-Sewa Kendras operationalise it by guiding litigants to Legal Services Authorities
ICJS, CCTNS, e-Sakshya, e-Summons and NAFIS extend digitisation from courts to police, prisons and forensics, and CCTNS now carries Nyaya Sanhita-linked deadline alerts
LegRAA for legal research, ASR-SHRUTI for voice-to-text, PANINI for translation and Digital Courts 2.1 are being piloted, with an AI tool built with IIT Madras flagging defects in e-filed petitions
Judgments are translated into 18 Indian languages through the eSCR portal with the National Informatics Centre, and e-filing supports regional languages
The Backgrounder notes that since 2014 both filings and disposals have nearly tripled, with courts disposing of more cases than are filed each year
GS Paper 2 > Polity and Governance > Judiciary, e-Governance
General Awareness > Indian Polity and Government Schemes
General Awareness > National Schemes and Digital India
General Awareness > Government Initiatives
Judicial reform and e-governance are recurring GS Paper 2 themes; the e-Courts project and NJDG appear regularly in Prelims fact-based questions
National Judicial Data Grid — the public dashboard tracking pendency and disposal across the Supreme Court, High Courts and District Courts
National Service and Tracking of Electronic Processes — a GPS-enabled application used by bailiffs to serve summons and notices
Interoperable Criminal Justice System — the platform through which police, courts, prisons, forensics and prosecution exchange records
A help desk inside a court complex that assists litigants with case status, certified copies, e-filing and free legal aid referrals
The Supreme Court's electronic reports portal, through which judgments are being translated into 18 Indian languages
The government platform to which 734 High Court and District Court websites have been migrated