E-Courts Project in the Judgeship of Rayagada

Introduction of e-Courts services is a revolution in the judicial system of India. Judiciary of India is in urgent need of re-engineering its processes, optimize the use of its human resources and bring about change management by harnessing the potentiality of the available Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to its fullest extent. The objective of this exercise is to enhance the judicial productivity both qualitatively and quantitatively as also make the Justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost effective, transparent and accountable. The project envisages deployment of Hardware, Software and Networking to assist district and Taluka courts in streamlining their day-to-day functioning.

E-Courts Project

The e-Courts project was conceptualized on the basis of the National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in the Indian Judiciary–2005 submitted by e-Committee (Supreme Court of India), with a vision to transform the Indian Judiciary by ICT enablement of Courts. In other words, e-Court project is all about providing ICT enablement of courts to make justice delivery system affordable and cost-effective.

The e-Courts Integrated Mission Mode Project (Phase-I) is one of the national e-Governance projects being implemented in High Courts and district/subordinate Courts of the Country. The 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 e-Committee of the Supreme Court of India. The Government approved the computerization of 14,249 district & subordinate Courts under the project by March 2014 with a total budget of Rs. 935 crore. The objective of the e-Courts project is to provide designated services to litigants, lawyers and the judiciary by universal computerization of district and subordinate courts in the country and enhancement of ICT enablement of the justice system.

The Phase-II of the Project has been approved by e-Committee of Supreme Court of India in January 2014 for further enhancement of ICT enablement of Courts with broad objective of:

1. Computerization of more than 8000 new courts, legal service authority offices and state judicial academies with strengthened hardware.
2. Connecting all the Courts in the country to the National Judicial Data Grid though WAN and additional redundant connectivity to enable integration with the proposed interoperable criminal justice system.
3. Citizen centric facilities such as centralised filling centers and touch screen based kiosks be based at each Court complex.
4. Creating a robust Court management system through digitization, document management, Judicial knowledge management and learning management.
5. Facilitating better performance in courts through change management and process re-engineering as well as improvement in process servicing through hand-held devices.
6. Enhance ICT enablement through e-filling, e-Payment and use of mobile application.

Status of the project in Rayagada Judgeship

Unlike other states, the pendency position in the Judgeship of Rayagada is below the national average. However, in the matter of speedy delivery of Justice the system has not been successful largely because of the conservative slow process adopted till the introduction of e-Courts project. The project is being implemented in the district Judiciary with the following objectives:

1. To provide efficient & time-bound citizen centric service delivery.
2. To develop, install & implement decision support systems in courts.
3. To automate the processes to provide transparency of Information access to its stakeholders.
4. To enhance judicial productivity both qualitatively & quantitatively, to make the justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost effective & transparent.
5. To help judicial administrations of the courts in streamlining their day-to-day activities
6. To assist judicial administration in reducing the pendency of cases
7. To provide transparency of information to the litigants
8. To provide access to legal and judicial databases to the judges

In the context of the Judgeship of Rayagada, ICT enablements of all the courts and awareness among the litigant public are equally important. The needs are much more than what has been done so far. An incomplete list of the needs in the field of e-Courts project would be like this:

Project Needs

Appointment of a system Officer. A system Assistant for the Judgeship has been appointed w.e.f. 01.11.2016. Other needs are as follows:

Infrastructural Development

1. New Court buildings with necessary technological support for e-tools
2. Facility of Broadband connectivity & non-stop power supply
3. Ancillary facilities like Help desk, Kiosks display board etc.
4. Computerisation of all the Courts
5. Facility of video conferencing

Human resources development

1. Permanent training cell for the manpower in e-Courts Project
2. Technical manpower
3. Resources like e-library etc.

Basic e-Courts features

1. Creation of Data base of pending cases
2. E filing of cases in all courts
3. Status of pending cases of every court to be available on line
4. Web based public access to cause list, case details
5. Facilitation counters in every court complex for filing of cases, issue of certified copies and case information
6. Electronics calculation of Court fees
7. Online assignment of cases
8. Online generation of statistical Data
9. Scanning and storage of all case documents
10. Service of notices and summons of higher courts by electronic means
11. Availability of digitally signed court orders and judgments on the net
12. Digital Transcription of Evidence
13. Ready availability of information on adjournments, service of summons, documents submitted, Etc.
14. Digital production of under trial prisoners through video conferencing
15. Access to legal resources on internet
16. Auto generation of summons, warrants and other processes
17. Regular monitoring of service of processes
18. Generation of initial order sheet
19. Developing a Mobile app for Case information of Rayagada Judgeship

Further developments

1. Online performance monitoring and assessment of judges
2. Integrated personal information system and computerised financial accounting
3. Putting software in use for Recruitment(C & D cadre) process of the Judgeship
4. Email facility to Judges to ensure smooth communication
5. Auto generation of statutory reports/returns
6. Online information to Govt. Deptts.

The Judgeship of Rayagada started functioning from 07.07.2012. The infrastructural developments are on progress. However, the basic features of e-courts project have been implemented in all the courts of the judgeship.

Citizen centric services available under the e-Courts project

1. The District & Sessions Judge Court, Rayagada has its own website.
2. Judgements and orders are made available on its website.
3. All the 12 (twelve) courts under this judgeship have been computerized.
4. Cases are registered and automatic registration number is generated against each registration in the District headquarters of this judgeship.
5. Cause lists and Case Status are made available on the district court website.
6. A district level committee (District Computer Committee) has been constituted headed by Hon'ble District & Sessions Judge, Rayagada.
7. Eight citizen centric services i.e.: 1). Filing at JSC & generation of Receipt, 2) Push SMS & email facility, 3) Judgments are stored in the server to be accessed by an authorised person, 4) Judgment on Internet, website with search facility, 5) Cause List on internet, Case status on Internet (Case No. Case Title, Adv. Name, Court, Location of Court and next date of haring.), 6) Orders are to be stored in the server which can be accesses by authorised persons, 7) Daily orders on Internet website 8) Website for each District have been made available.
8. Laptops with printers have been provided to all the judicial officers of this Judgeship.
9. Broadband connectivity has been provided to all the court complexes of the judgeship.

See also

• National Judicial Reference System

External links

• eCourts
• Official website of Rayagada Judgeship

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