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Under e-Courts Phase III (2023-27), 753.60 crore pages of court records have been digitised, 1,806 eSewa Kendras established and e-filing implemented in 4,519 courts.
Video conferencing facilities exist in 7,553 establishments including courts, jails and hospitals; 11 High Courts have live audio-visual streaming and all High Courts have implemented the Interoperable Criminal Justice System.
As of March 2026, 452 ADR Centres and 1,394 Mediation Centres function across the country, with 4,681 judicial officers, 10,124 lawyers and 753 other mediators trained and deployed.
Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 makes pre-institution mediation mandatory in commercial disputes of specified value except where urgent relief is sought, and the Mediation Act, 2023 provides for a Mediation Council of India under Section 31 and community mediation under Section 43.
The revamped India Code Portal was launched on 13 August 2026 at Kartavya Bhavan 2, New Delhi, adding AI-assisted and semantic search, speech-based access, e-Gazette integration and multilingual access in all 22 Eighth Schedule languages.
Strengthen the use of information and communication technology across the judicial system
Key: Implemented in phases: Phase I laid the network and computerisation foundation, Phase II introduced the National Judicial Data Grid, e-filing and eSewa Kendras and expanded video conferencing, and Phase III was approved by the Union Cabinet as a Central Sector Scheme for 2023-27 with a financial outlay of ₹7,210 crore. Phase III aims at large-scale digitisation of records, wider virtual hearings, interoperability across justice institutions and adoption of AI.
Force commercial parties to attempt mediation before litigating
Key: Section 12A makes pre-institution mediation and settlement mandatory in commercial disputes of specified value before a suit is instituted, except where the party contemplates urgent interim relief. Authorities established under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 conduct the process.
Give mediation a statutory framework, especially institutional mediation
Key: Section 31 provides for the Mediation Council of India as a national body to promote mediation, register mediators and recognise and grade mediation service providers. Section 43 provides for community mediation to resolve disputes likely to affect peace, harmony and tranquillity among residents or families of a locality.
Augment state resources for building district and subordinate court infrastructure
Key: Running since 1993-94 with five components — court halls, residential units for judicial officers, lawyers' halls, toilet complexes and digital computer rooms. Court hall design is approved by the Building Infrastructure Committee of the High Court, and CSS norms draw on the recommendations of the Supreme Court's National Courts Management System Committee and CPWD practice. Primary responsibility for judicial infrastructure rests with State Governments.
Move India Code from a repository of legislative documents to a citizen-centric digital gateway to law
Key: Launched on 13 August 2026 at Kartavya Bhavan 2, New Delhi by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice, developed by the Legislative Department with the National Informatics Centre. It hosts Central Acts and subordinate legislation, State Acts and subordinate legislation and Union Territory legislation, and adds AI-assisted and semantic search, speech-based search, linkage of Acts with subordinate legislation, legislative history and amendments, e-Gazette integration, QR-enabled access, a citizen feedback mechanism and AI-assisted multilingual access in all 22 languages of the Eighth Schedule.
Provides free legal services to weaker sections and organises Lok Adalats; strengthens ADR and Mediation Centres, empanels and trains mediators, and runs the Community Mediation initiative through State and District Legal Services Authorities. It funds the Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee constituted by the Supreme Court, which trains lawyers as mediators
Provided for under Section 31 of the Mediation Act, 2023 as the national body to promote mediation, register mediators and recognise and grade mediation service providers and institutes
Maintains and has revamped the India Code Portal, the authoritative repository of Central and State legislation
Provided technical expertise and development support for the revamped India Code Portal; also hosts the S3WAAS platform to which 734 court websites have been migrated
In a Lok Adalat, organised under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, parties settle with the assistance of the panel; the award is deemed a decree of a civil court and is final and binding, with no appeal lying against it — a striking feature, since the finality follows from the settlement being consensual. In mediation, a neutral third party helps the disputants reach their own agreement; the mediator has no power to decide, and the Mediation Act, 2023 gives this process a statutory shape including a Mediation Council of India and community mediation for locality-level disputes. In arbitration, under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, the arbitrator does decide, and the award is enforceable like a court decree but may be challenged on limited statutory grounds. The Commercial Courts Act adds a fourth idea — compulsion to attempt, not to settle: Section 12A requires a commercial party to exhaust pre-institution mediation before suing, unless urgent interim relief is contemplated, so the mandatory element is the attempt rather than the outcome.
Simple Analogy: A mediator helps two people write their own agreement; an arbitrator writes it for them; a Lok Adalat records what they agree and gives it the force of a court decree.
Digitisation, virtual courts and mandatory pre-institution mediation are three different attacks on the same problem — the volume of cases and the time each takes.
ICJS links courts, police, jails and forensic laboratories so that data moves between the pillars of criminal justice; all High Courts have now implemented it.
The Directive Principle requiring the state to secure equal justice and free legal aid is the constitutional basis for NALSA and the legal services architecture through which mediation is delivered.
The India Code Portal's use of AI search, e-Gazette integration and multilingual access mirrors the wider pattern of government platforms being rebuilt around discovery and language access rather than storage.
GS Paper 2 > Structure, Organisation and Functioning of the Judiciary; Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms
General Awareness > Indian Polity and Government Initiatives
General Awareness > Legal Framework for Commercial Disputes
ADR mechanisms, NALSA and judicial reform recur in Prelims and are core GS2 Mains material
A physical help desk in a court complex assisting litigants and advocates with e-filing registration, scanning, court fee payment, case status and video conferencing; 1,806 are functional.
National Service and Tracking of Electronic Processes — the system for electronic service and tracking of court summons and processes, available in 6,895 courts.
Interoperable Criminal Justice System, enabling data transfer among courts, police, jails and forensic labs; implemented by all High Courts.
Mandatory mediation under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 before filing a commercial suit of specified value, unless urgent relief is contemplated.
Provided under Section 43 of the Mediation Act, 2023 for disputes likely to affect peace, harmony and tranquillity among residents or families of an area.
The government platform to which 734 court websites have been migrated, providing secure, scalable and sugamya website hosting.