EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM
EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM
The Government has taken several initiatives for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the Country’s judicial system which include the following:
The Phase-III of the eCourts Project (2023-2027) was approved on 13.09.2023 with an outlay of Rs.7,210 crore, which is aimed at ushering a regime of enhanced ease of justice by moving towards digital, online and paperless courts. It intends to incorporate latest technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make justice delivery progressively more robust, easy and accessible. Till date, 506.05 crores pages of court records have been digitized in the High Courts and District Courts. More than 3.65 crore hearings have taken place through Video conferencing and live streaming is functional in 11 High Courts. The number of eSewa Kendras (facilitation centres) has increased to 1814 across High Courts and District Courts. Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning tools are being used in case management hearing and for transcription of oral judgements in the Supreme Court of India.
As on
Sanctioned Strength
Working Strength
31.12.2013
19,518
15,115
21.07.2025
25,843
21,122
Source: MIS Portal of the Department of Justice
However, filling up of vacancies in District and Subordinate judiciary falls within the domain of the State/UT Governments and High Courts concerned.
Under The Commercial Courts Act, 2015, there is a provision for case management hearing, which provides for an efficient, effective and purposeful judicial management of a case so as to achieve a timely and qualitative resolution of a dispute. It assists in early identification of disputed issues of facts and law, establishment of procedural calendar for the life of the case and the exploration of possibilities of the resolution of the dispute.
Another novel feature introduced for the commercial courts is the system of color banding, which limits the number of adjournments that can be granted in any commercial matter to three and alerts the judges about listing of the cases in accordance with their stage of pendency.
This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Law and Justice and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today
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- The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms was set up in August, 2011, with the twin objectives of increasing access to justice by reducing delays in the system and enhancing accountability through structural changes and by setting performance standards and capacities. The Mission has been pursuing a coordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration, which, inter-alia, involves better infrastructure for courts including computerization, increase in sanctioned strength of District and Subordinate Courts, policy and legislative measures in the areas prone to excessive litigation and re-engineering of court procedure for quick disposal of cases and emphasis on human resource development.
- Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for development of Judicial Infrastructure, funds are being released to States/UTs for construction of court halls, residential quarters for judicial officers, lawyers’ halls, toilet complexes and digital computer rooms that ease the life of various stakeholders including the litigants, thereby aiding justice delivery. As on 30.06.2025, Rs. 12,101.89 crores have been released since the inception of this Scheme in 1993-94. The number of court halls has increased from 15,818 (as on 30.06.2014) to 22,372 (as on 30.06.2025) and the number of residential units has increased from 10,211 (as on 30.06.2014) to 19,851 (as on 30.06.2025), under this Scheme.
- Under Phase I and II of the e-Courts Mission Mode Project, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was leveraged for IT enablement of District and Subordinate Courts and 18,735 District and Subordinate Courts were computerized till 2023. WAN connectivity was provided to 2977 sites. Video Conferencing facility was enabled between 3,240 court complexes and 1,272 corresponding jails. 778 eSewa Kendras (facilitation centres) were established to bridge the digital divide by providing citizen centric services to lawyers and litigants. 21 virtual courts were set up in 17 States/UTs, which handled more than 2.78 crore cases and realized more than Rs. 384.14 crores in fines up to March 2023.