Department of Justice (DoJ), Ministry of Law and Justice has undertaken various initiatives/projects and developed scheme to increase free legal aid and ensure access to justice
Department of Justice (DoJ), Ministry of Law and Justice has undertaken various initiatives/projects and developed scheme to increase free legal aid and ensure access to justice
Department of Justice (DoJ), Ministry of Law and Justice has undertaken various initiatives/projects and developed scheme to increase free legal aid and ensure access to justice to the citizens with the aim to fulfil the obligation as enunciated under Article 39A of the Indian Constitution.
In 2021, a comprehensive, pan- India scheme titled“ Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice in India” (DISHA) was launched for a period of five years (2021- 2026) with a total outlay of Rs. 250 crores. The DISHA scheme aims to provide easy, accessible, affordable and citizen- centric delivery of legal services through the scheme of Tele-Law, Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services) and Legal Literacy and Legal awareness programme. Till 30th November 2024, Tele- Law service has been made available across 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats in 785 districts across 36 States and UTs and has rendered pre – litigation advice to 1,03,06,149 beneficiaries. The Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal services) enables seamless connect through the Nyaya Bandhu Application (available on Android/iOS) between the interested Pro Bono Advocates and registered beneficiaries who are entitled for free legal aid under Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. As on 30th November 2024, there are 8614 Pro Bono advocates registered under the Nyaya Bandhu program. Through the Legal Literacy and Legal Awareness programme approximately 86 lakh beneficiaries at the State and district and local level have been made aware and sensitized on various rights, duties and entitlements.
Further, the eCourts Mission Mode Project, a national eGovernance project for ICT enablement of district/subordinate courts of the country was launched with a view to facilitate faster disposal of cases by speeding up court processes and providing transparent on-line flow of information on case status, orders/judgments etc. to the judiciary as well as litigants, lawyers, and other stakeholders. In Phase II of the project which started in 2015, 99.5 % of total Court Complexes across India inter-linked through WAN connectivity and in addition, various citizen centric services have been initiated. Accessibility to more than 27.64 crore orders/judgments is available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG). In addition, through Video conferencing, 3.38 crore cases have been heard by the District and Subordinate Courts and High Courts and 7.54 lakh cases by the Supreme Court. Live streaming started in 9 High Courts and constitutional bench of Supreme Court of India. Virtual Courts have been established in 21 States/UTs to try traffic offences. The additional features include CIS, NJDG, JustIS app for judges, eFiling, epayments, Judgements & Order Search portal, NSTEP, Justice Clock etc.
Presently, eCourts Phase- III has been approved, at an outlay of Rs.7,210 crore. This phase aims to create a unified technology platform for the judiciary and provide a seamless and paperless interface between the courts, the litigants and other stakeholders. The important features of the eCourts Phase- III includes Digitisation of the court records, both legacy records and pending cases; state of the art and latest Cloud bases data repository for easy retrieval; saturating all court complexes across India with e-Sewa Kendras to provide easy access to citizens not having the necessary know-how or computer equipment; Paperless Courts aiming to bring court proceedings under a digital format leading to transparency and accountability in the Indian Judiciary and speedy disposal of cases; Online Courts aimed at eliminating the presence of litigants or lawyers in the court, thus saving time and money; Use of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and its subsets like optical Character Recognition (OCR) etc for case pendency , forecasting future litigation, etc.; expansion of scope of Virtual Courts beyond adjudication of traffic challans etc.
In addition, the Government has set up National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) under the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act,1987 to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society as covered under Section 12 of the Act, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizens by reason of economic or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats to secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunities. For this purpose, the legal services institutions have been setup from the Taluk Court level to the Supreme Court. The activities/programmes undertaken by Legal Services Authorities include Legal Aid and advice; Legal Awareness Programmes; Legal Services/Empowerment camps; Legal Service Clinics; Legal Literacy Clubs; Lok Adalats and implementation of Victim Compensation Scheme. The details of activities /programmes undertaken by Legal Services Authorities is at Annexure – A.
This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Law & Justice, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
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SB/DP/ARJ
Annexure-A
Legal aid and advice:
Years
Persons provided Panel Advocates
Persons benefited through Advice/ Counselling
Persons benefited through other services
Total
2022-23
2,91,410
6,39,230
2,84,129
12,14,769
2023-24
3,24,914
9,47,087
2,78,163
15,50,164
2024-25
(upto Sept,24)
1,68,380
5,05,386
86,012
7,59,778
Legal Awareness Programmes:
Years
No of Legal Awareness programmes organised
No. of Persons attended
2022-23
4,90,055
6,75,17,665
2023-24
4,30,306
4,49,22,092
2024-25
(upto Sept. 24)
1,90,231
1,61,35,058
Legal Services / Empowerment Camps:
Year
2021
2022
2023
No. of camps organised
3502
38,541
30043
No. of beneficiaries in all camps
1,40,94,600
1,15,10,207
1,14,64,230
Legal Services Clinics:
Years
2021-22
2022-23
Categories
Legal Services Clinics
Number of persons provided legal assistance
Legal Services Clinics
Number of persons provided legal assistance
Law Colleges/ Universities
1014
5989
1093
37351
Villages
4723
727955
4134
282140
Community Centres
1019
141404
776
88638
Courts
762
54871
904
116563
Jails
1181
218501
1177
264593
JJB/CWC/ Observation Homes
447
15742
439
29280
For the people of North-East
75
373
64
1170
Others
3755
139529
3124
194729
Total
12976
1304364
11711
1014464
Years
2023-24
2024-25 (upto Sept.24)
Categories
Legal Services Clinics
Number of persons provided legal assistance
Legal Services Clinics
Number of persons provided legal assistance
Law Colleges/ Universities
1034
27545
944
9689
Villages
3659
234515
3771
137556
Community Centres
971
75114
831
44351
Courts
1018
141539
1081
85278
Jails
1215
324867
1227
194229
JJB/CWC/ Observation Homes
479
48565
520
38072
For the people of North-East
47
615
49
1131
Others
2961
183280
3568
117173
Total
11384
1036040
11991
627479
Lok Adalats:
National Lok Adalats
Years
Pre-litigation Cases disposed of
Pending Cases disposed of
Total Cases disposed of
2021
72,06,294
55,81,743
1,27,88,037
2022
3,10,15,215
1,09,10,795
4,19,26,010
2023
7,10,32,980
1,43,09,237
8,53,42,217
2024 (upto 0911.24)
6,46,35,285
1,26,34,580
7,72,69,865
State Lok Adalats
Years
No. of benches constituted
Pre-litigation Cases disposed of
Pending Cases disposed of
Total Cases disposed of
2021-22
74,480
114278
418251
532529
2022-23
62,194
94939
756370
851309
2023-24
9,865
219230
987873
1207103
2024-25 (upto Sept.24)
5,944
681938
329974
1011912
Permanent Lok Adalats (Public Utility Services)
Years
Cases settled
2021-22
1,18,136
2022-23
1,71,138
2023-24
2,32,763
2024-25 (upto Sept. ,24)
98,776
Implementation of Victim Compensation Schemes:
Years
Compensation Awarded in (Rs.)
2021-22
2,21,87,47,426
2022-23
3,47,80,37,352/-
2023-24
4,02,90,06,736/-
2024-25 (upto Sept.,24)