INDEX

S. Question No. Question Date Subject Division No. Type 1. Question No. 32 Starred 20.07.2018 Status of setting up of Kolhapur Bench of Desk Side High Court of Bombay 2. Question No. 408 Unstarred 20.07.2018 e-filing of cases in courts eCourt

3. Question No. 409 Unstarred 20.07.2018 Fast Track Courts for criminal cases against Justice-II public representatives 4. Question No. 411 Unstarred 20.07.2018 Creation of Indian Judicial Service National Mission

5. Question No. 417 Unstarred 20.07.2018 Implementation of Centrally Sponsored JR section Schemes 6. Question No. 418 Unstarred 20.07.2018 Increase in strength of Judges of High Desk Side Courts 7. Question No. 193 Starred 03.08.2018 Calculating requirement of additional National Mission Judges 8. Question No. 2020 Unstarred 03.08.2018 Establishment of rural courts at Panchayat JR Section level 9. Question No. 2022 Unstarred 03.08.2018 Fast Track Courts Justice-II

10. Question No. 2023 Unstarred 03.08.2018 Sanctioned and vacant posts of Judges of Desk Side High Courts 11. Question No. 2024 Unstarred 03.08.2018 Measures to reduce huge pendency of National Mission cases 12. Question No. 2025 Unstarred 03.08.2018 Slow pace of justice system National Mission

13. Question No. 2026 Unstarred 03.08.2018 Amendment of Legal Services Legal Aid to Poor

14. Question No. 2029 Unstarred 03.08.2018 Missing case files in the Supreme Court eCourt and High Courts 15. Question No. 2030 Unstarred 03.08.2018 Bench of Desk Side

16. Question No. 2032 Unstarred 03.08.2018 Reduction in burden on jails through National Mission Speedy trials 17. Question No. 2033 Unstarred 03.08.2018 Fast Track Courts to try rape cases Justice-II

18. Question No. 2034 Unstarred 03.08.2018 Pending cases in various courts National Mission

19. Question No. *265 Starred 10.08.2018 Government’s plan for reducing the National Mission litigation cost 20. Question No. 2831 Unstarred 10.08.2018 Legal Aid for poor women prisoners Legal Aid to Poor

21. Question No. 2832 Unstarred 10.08.2018 Centrally Sponsored Scheme for JR Section Development of Infrastructure Facilities for the Judiciary 22. Question No. 2833 Unstarred 10.08.2018 Fast Track Courts for releasing prisoners, Legal Aid to Poor Imprisoned for petty crimes etc. 23. Question No. 2837 Unstarred 10.08.2018 Telecast of live proceedings of Supreme National Mission Court 24. Question No. 2839 Unstarred 10.08.2018 Updation of data in National Judicial Data eCourt Grid GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 32

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 20.07.2018·

Status of setting up of Kolhapur Bench of High Court of Bombay

*32. SHRI SAMBHAJI CHHATRAPATI:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

a) whether a proposal is under consideration of Government to set up a Bench of High Court of Bombay at Kolhapur to take care of the cases pertaining to western Maharashtra and Konkan region, as the petitioners and respondents have to travel to Mumbai to follow up the pending cases, causing inconvenience;

b) if so, the details with current status thereof; and

c) by when Kolhapur Bench of High Court of Bombay would be setup?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) to (c): A statement is laid on the Table of the House. Statement referred to in reply to Parts (a) to (c) of Rajya Sabha Starred Question No. 32 due for answer on 20.07.2018 regarding "Status of setting up of Kolhapur Bench of High Court of Bombay"

(a) to (c): In accordance with the recommendations made by the Jaswant Singh Commission and judgment pronounced by the Apex Court in W.P.(C) No.379 of 2000, Bench( es) of the High Court are established after due consideration of a complete proposal from the State Government, which is to provide infrastructure and meet the expenditure, along with the consent of the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court, which is required to look after the day to day administration of the High Court and its Bench. The proposal should also have the consent of the of the concerned State. At present there is no proposal from the State Government of Maharashtra for establishment of a bench of at Kolhapur.

***** GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE (DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE)

RAJYASABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 408 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 20th JULY, 2018

e-filing of cases in courts

408. smu NARAYAN LAL PANCHARIYA:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has taken any steps for e-filing of cases in courts; (b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; (c) whether any court in Rajasthan has been selected to promote e-filing of cases; and (d) the details regarding other steps being taken to promote the use of technology in the working of courts?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW & JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (b) : Yes, Sir. The Government of India is implementing the eCourts Mission Mode Project (Phase-I 2010-14 and Phase-II 2015-19) with a total outlay of Rs.1,670 crore (Phase-II) for communication and information technology enablement of district and subordinate courts across the country. An important objective of the project is to start e-filing of cases. o e-filing application has been developed and has been integrated with Case Information Software (CIS 3.0), which is the unified common software across all district and subordinate courts of the country. The pilot testing of e-filing software has been launched in December, 2017 in district and subordinate courts under the jurisdiction of . e-filing module with e-payment of court fees is ready for courts in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana.

(c) : All district and subordinate courts across the country, including those in Rajasthan, have been selected for promotion of e-filing of cases under the eCourts project.

(d) : The steps being taken by the Government to promote the use of technology in the working of the Courts are as under :

(i) The eCourts Mission Mode Project Phase I was implemented during 2011 - 2015 wherein Rs. 639.41 crores was released for computerisation of district and subordinate courts. At the end of Phase-I, out of the total target of computerisation of 14,249 district and subordinate courts, sites for all '14,249 courts (100%) were made ready for computeri sation, out of which LAN was installed at 13,643 courts, hardware provided in 13,436 courts and software was installed in 13,672 courts. Laptops were provided to 14,309 judicial officers and change management exercise was completed in all the High Courts. Over 14,000 Judicial Officers were trained in the use ofUBUNTU-Ljnux Operating System and more than 4,000 court staff have been trained in Case Information System (CIS) as System Administrators. Video Conferencing facility was operationalised between 488 court complexes and 342 corresponding jails. (ii) Under the Phase II of the Project (2015-19), Rs. 1,073.18 crores has been released till date, against the financial outlay of Rs.1670 crores. Computerisation of 16,089 .district and subordinate courts has been completed, through provisioning of computer hardware, Local Area Network (LAN), and installation of standard application software in

district and subordinate courts.

The details of computerised district and subordinate courts under various High Courts are as under:

1. Allahabad 1733 2. Andhra Pradesh 1078 3. Bombay 2079 4. Calcutta 772 5. Chattisgarh 340 6. Delhi 427 7. Gauhati 442 8. Gujarat 1108 9. Himachal Pradesh 118 10. Jabalpur 1203 11. Jammu And Kashmir 218 12. Jharkhand 351 13. Jodhpur 978 14. Kamataka 897 15. Kerala 486 16. Madras 988

2 s. No. . '- - ,'.c ;:"(}:: .-', ;; ...•- ~-:.;. 17. Orissa 509 18. Patna 1025 19. Punjab And Haryana 1018 20. Sikkim 15 21. Uttarakhand 185 22. Tripura 62 23. Manipur 30 24. Meghalaya 27 Total 16089 ._ . ••

(iii) A new and user-friendly version of Case Information Software (CIS 2.0) has been developed and deployed at all the computerized district and subordinate courts.

(iv) The National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) for district & subordinate courts has been created as an online platform which now provides information relating to judicial proceedings/decisions of 16,089 computerized district and subordinate courts of the country. The portal provides online information to litigants such as details of case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders, and final judgments. Currently litigants can access case status information in respect of over 10.1 crore cases and more than 6.90 crore orders / judgments.

(v) Judicial Service Centres (JSCs) have been established at all computerized subordinate courts to serve as a single window for filing petitions and applications by litigants/ lawyers, and for obtaining information on ongoing cases and copies of orders and judgments etc. 3 (vi) ECourts mobile app with the facility of QR Code was launched on 22.07.2017 for use of litigants and lawyers. Services under different captions viz. Search by CNR, Case Status, Cause List and My Cases are available on this application, which is available on both Google Play and

Apple Store.

(vii) Furthermore, the facility of providing case information servtces through SMS has also been implemented and the process of disseminating system-generated SMSs is operational.

During the Phase II, till date, about 124.98 crore electronic transactions have been recorded for eCourts through eTaal portal.

4 GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION N0.409

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, TIlE 20th JULY, 2018

Fast Track Courts for criminal cases against public representatives

409. SHRl NARAYAN LAL PANCHARlYA:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) whether Government has constituted any Fast Track Courts to try public representatives for criminal cases against them;

(b) if so, the details thereof; (c) whether any such cases have been transferred to any Fast Track Courts; and

(d) if so, the detaiIsthereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

ANSWER

Minister of State for Law & Justice and Corporate Affairs (SHRl P.P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (d): Setting up of subordinate courts including Fast Track Courts (FTCs) lies within the domain of the State Governments who set up such courts as per their need and resources, in consultation with

the respective High Courts.

However, in compliance with the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in WP (C) No.699/2016 (Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay Vs UoI & Anr), twelve (12) Special Courts have been set up in eleven (11) States (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Kamataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and NCT of Delhi) to exclusively deal with criminalcases involving elected MPslMLAs and proportionate funds have been released to these State

Governments by the Union Government.

As per information received from various High Courts, a total number of 1,349 cases have been transferred to these Special Courts for expeditious trial. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. t411 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 20TH JULY, 2018

Creation of Indian Judicial Service t411. SHRI P.L. PUNIA:

Will t~e Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) whether Government is considering to create Indian Judicial Service; and (b) if so, the efforts made in this regard?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) and (b): A comprehensive proposal was formulated for the constitution of All India Judicial Service (AIJS) which was approved by the Committee of Secretaries in November, 2012. The proposal was included as an agenda item in the Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of the

High Courts held in April, 2013 wherein it was decided that the issue needs further deliberation and consideration. The views of 'the State

Governments and High Courts were sought on the proposal. There was

divergence of opinion among State Governments and High Courts.

The proposal for constitution of All India Judicial Service, with views

from the High Courts and State Governments received thereon, was included in the agenda for the Joint Conference of Chief Ministers and

Chief Justices of the High Courts held on os" April, 201S. No decision was taken on the said proposal.

However, keeping in view the divergence of opinion among the stakeholders on constitution of A" India Judicial Service, the Government has undertaken the consultative process to arrive at a common ground.

************** " '\ GOVERNMENTOF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENTOF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 417 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 20TH JULY, 2018

Implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes

417. SHRIMATI THOTA SEETHARAMA LAKSHMI:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) the details of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), including flagship programmes, being implemented at present by the Ministry; and (b) the details of targets and allocations made, fund allocated, disbursed and utilized in these schemes during the last three years, including the present year, scheme-wise and State I UT- wise?

ANSWER MINISTEROF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) and (b): The Union Government has been administering a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary since 1993-94 in order to augment the resources of State Governments in this regard in association with the States / UT Governments. It covers the construction of court halls and court complexes and residential accommodations of judicial officers of District and Subordinate Judiciary. As on date, Rs. 6,100 crore has been released since the inception of the Scheme in 1993-94. Out of this, Rs. 2,655 crore (43.52%) has been released to the States and UTs since April, 2014. The Central Government has approved continuation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary beyond the 12thFive Year Plan period i.e. from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020 with an outlay of Rs.3,320 crore. The details of State / UT - wise funds sanctioned during last three years and utilization certificates pending with States/ UTs are given at Annexure. ************** Annexure Statement referred to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 417 dated 20.07.2018 Details of funds sanctioned during the last three years and utilization certificates ' pending under Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary ·CRs.In Lakhs) SI. State Funds Funds Funds Utilization No. sanctioned in sanctioned in sanctioned in Certificate 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 Pending 1 Andhra Pradesh 2 Bihar 5000.00 4290.00 3 Chhattisgarh 4 Goa 5 Gujarat 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00 6 Haryana 5000.00 1500.00 7 Himachal Pradesh 819.00 8 Jammu & Kashmir 1325.00 2104.00 1000.00 9 Jharkhand 3044.00 5000.00 10 Karnataka 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00 11 Kerala 2500.00 12 Madhya Pradesh 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00 13 Maharashtra 5000.00 4975.00 5000.00 1017.00 14 Orissa 15 Punjab 5000.00 4800.00 5000.00 793.00 16 Rajasthan 5000.00 4374.00 1734.00 1867.00 17 Tamil nadu 5000.00 18 Uttarakhand 2500.00 2500.00 19 UttarPradesh 5000.00 5000.00 7500.00 20 West Bengal 1734.00 1734.00 Total (A) 44369.00 42072.00 52758.00 17911.00 NE States 1 Arunachal Pradesh 1593.00 744.00 2 Assam 2000.00 3 Manipur 2000.00 4 Meghalaya 2037.00 2000.00 863.00 5 Mizoram 2000.00 6 Nagaland 2000.00 2000.00 7 Sikkim 8 Tripura 3540.00 Total (B) 5630.00 4000.00 6863.00 4284.00 UTs 1 A & N Islands 259.68 2 Chandigarh Dadra & Nagar 3 Haveili 4 Daman & Diu 42.43 5 Delhi 6,040.32 5,000.00 2,500.00 5958.00 6 Lakshadweep 259.68 2500.00 2385.00 7 Pondicherry 8343.00 Total (C) 6300.00 7802.11 2500.00 62121.00 30538.00 Grand Total 56299.00 53874.11 (A+B+C) ************* GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

'_ RAJYASABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 418

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 20.07.2018

Increase in strength of Judges of High Courts

418. SHRI MAHESH PODDAR:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) whether it is a fact that Government has increased the strength of Judges of High Courts of the States from 906 to 984, out of the target strength of 1112 Judges;

(b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise; and

(c) the details of steps Government has undertaken for the infrastructural development of Judiciary in the last four years?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) and (b): In the Joint Conference of Chief Justices and Chief Ministers held on 7.4.2013, a decision was taken to increase the number of Judges of the High Courts by 25%. Accordingly, Government has increased the Judge strength of the High Courts from 906 to 1079 l.e. by 173 posts, during the period from 01.07.2014 to 10.05.2016 with the approval of the respective State Governments, related High Courts and the Chief Justice of India.

A Statement showing the details of increase in posts of Judges, High Court wise, is annexed.

(c): During the period 01/4/2014 to 31/3/2018, the Government has released Rs. 2655 Crore to States and Union Territories under the Centrally Sponsored Schem~ (CSS) for Infrastructure development for Judiciary l.e, for construction of court halls, court complexes and residential accommodation of judicial officers of District and Subordinate Judiciary. Annexure ' Statement referred to in reply to Parts (a ) and (b) of Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 418 to be answered on 20.07.2018.

Approved Approved No. of Judge Judge Judge SI. Name of the High Strength Strength strength No. Court As on after increased I 1.1.2014 increase 1 Allahabad 160 160 Nil i Telangana & 49 61 12 \2 Andhra Pradesh 3 Bombay 75 94 19 4 Calcutta 58 72 14 5 Chhattisgarh 18 22 04 6 Delhi 48 60 12 7 Gauhati 24 24 Nil 8 Gujarat 42 52 10 9 Himachal Pradesh 11 13 02 10 Jammu & Kashmir 14 17 03 105 11 Jharkhand 20 25 12 Karnataka 50 62 12 l I 13 Kerala 38 47 09 14 Madhya Pradesh 43 53 10 15 Madras 60 75 15 16 Manipur 04 05 01 17 Meghalaya 03 04 01 18 Orissa 22 27 05 19 Patna 43 53 10 20 Punjab & Haryana 68 85 17 21 Rajasthan 40 50 10 22 Sikkim 03 03 Nil i 23 Tripura 04 04 Nil 24 Uttarkhand 09 11 02 Total 906 1079 173 GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA

STARRED QUESTION NO. t*193

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, 03RD AUGUST,2018.

Calculating requirement of additional Judges t*193. SHRI PRABHATJHA:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICEbe pleased to state:

(a) whether the Law Commission, in its 245th report, had suggested that to measure the needs of judicial services, population is not the appropriate criteria and the rate of disposal method is more pragmatic and useful for calculating the requirement of number of additional Judges to clear the backlog of cases as well to ensure that new backlog is not created; and (b) if so, in the light of suggestion of the Law Commission, whether any policy related measures are being taken I have been taken by Government in this regard?

ANSWER

MINISTEROF LAW AND JUSTICEAND ELECTRONICSAND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRIRAVI SHANKARPRASAD)

(a) & (b): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. ,. ... STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (al & (bl of RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. t*193 FOR ANSWER ON 03RD AUGUST, 2018.

In 245th report (2014), the Law Commission has observed that filing of

cases per capita varies substantially across geographic units as filings are

associated with economic and social conditions of the population. As such

the Law Commission did not consider the judge population ratio to be a

scientific criterion for determining the adequacy of the judge strength in the

country. The Law Commission found that in the absence of complete and

scientific approach to data collection across various High Courts in the

country, the "Rate of Disposal' method, to calculate the number of additional

judges required to clear the backlog of cases as well as to ensure that new

backlog is not created, is more pragmatic and useful.

In May, 2014, the Supreme Court asked the State Governments and

the High Courts to file their response to the recommendations made by the

Law Commission. In August 2014, the Supreme Court asked the National

Court Management System Committee (NCMS Committee) to examine the

recommendations made by the Law Commission and to furnish its

recommendations in this regard.

NCMS Committee submitted its report to the Supreme Court in March,

2016. The report, inter-alia, observes that the clearance of.backlog is not the

sole or central basis for determining the judge strength and that the judge

strength of the subordinate courts will have to be assessed by a scientific

method to determine the total number of "Judicial Hours" required for

disposing of the case load of each court. In the interim, the Committee has · , ~ proposed a "weighted' disposal approach i.e. disposal weighted by the nature ... and complexity of cases in local conditions.

The Hon'ble Supreme Court considered the reports of the Law

Commission and the NCMS Committee in its Order dated 02.01.2017 in

Criminal Appeal Nos.254-262 of 2012 (Imtiaz Ahmad versus State of U.P. &

Ors.), and directed, inter alia, that the NCMS Committee shall formulate a scientific method for determining the basis for computing the required judge strength of the district judiciary; that in the interim, the judge strength shall be computed for each state in accordance with the approach indicated by the

NCMS Committee; that the interim report of the NCMS Committee shall be forwarded by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice to the Chief Justices of all the High Courts and Chief Secretaries of all states so as to enable them to take follow up action to determine the required judge strength of the district judiciary based on the said report.

Department of Justice has forwarded a copy of interim report of the

NCMS Committee to all State Governments and High Courts to enable them to take follow up action to determine the required strength of district and subordinate judiciary.

Sanctioned strength of Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate

Courts has increased from 19,518 as on 31.12.2013 to 22,545 as on

31.03.2018. The working strength of Judicial Officers in District and

Subordinate Courts has increased from 15,115 as on 31.12.2013 to 17,109 as on 31.03.2018.

************ .,,"

GOVERNMENTOF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. t2020 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 03R AUGUST, 2018

Establishment of rural courts at Panchayat level

t2020. SHRI MAHESH PODDAR:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) the number of litigations pending in the High Courts and Lower Courts of the country alongwith the details thereof; (b) whether it is a fact that there is a possibility of manifold reduction in the number of the above mentioned pending litigations if rural courts are established at Panchayat level and empowered with the jurisdiction of hearing cases of limited nature; and (c) if so, whether Government would consider to establish rural courts at Panchayat level and empower them to hear the cases of limited nature, if so, by when and if not, the reasons therefor?

ANSWER MINISTEROF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a): Data on pendency of cases in the Supreme Court and High Courts is

maintained by the Supreme Court and High Courts respectively. As per

information available on the web-portal of National Judicial Data Grid

(NJDG), 17,44,961 Civil Cases, 11,46,577 Criminal Cases and 14,66,036

Writs (Total - 43,57,574 cases) are pending in various ~igh Courts as on

date; and 83,27,923 Civil Cases and 1,92,28,308 Criminal Cases (Total -

2,75,56,231 cases) are pending in various District and Subordinate courts

------. , , ------.. of the country (excluding State I Union Territories of Arunachal Pradesh,

Nagaland,Lakshadweep and Puducherry)as on date.

(b):To provide access to justice to the citizens at their door steps, the

Central Government has enacted the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008. It provides for establishment of Gram Nyayalayas at intermediate panchayat level. The State Governments are responsible for establishing Gram

Nyayalayas in consultation with the respective High Courts. As per information made available by State GovernmentsI High Courts, 343 Gram

Nyayalayas have been notified so far by 11 States, out of these, 210 are operational in 9 States at present.

(c): Civil and criminal cases pending before District I Session Courts or courts subordinate to it falling within the jurisdiction of the Gram

Nyayalayascan be transferred to Gram Nyayalayas.

The issues affecting operationalization of the Gram Nyayalayas were discussed in the Conference of Chief Justices of High Courts and

Chief Ministers of the States on ih April, 2013. It was decided in the

Conferencethat the State Governments and High Courts should decide the question of establishment of Gram Nyayalayas wherever feasible, taking into account the local issues and situation.

************** GOVERNMENT OF INDIA , MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUST'ICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2022 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 3rd AUGUST, 2018

Fast Track Courts

2022. SHRI A.K. SELVARAJ:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) whether it is a fact that Government has set up a total of 727 Fast Track Courts (FTCs) in the country;

(b) whether it is also a fact that the number of FTCs have increased from 281 during 2015 to 727 in 2018;

(c) whether it is also a fact that the FTCs are meant to expedite trials of cases, including cases against women, SC/STs, children and senior citizens; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER Minister of State for Law & Justice and Corporate Affairs (SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (d): Setting up of subordinate courts, which includes Fast Track Courts (FTCs) lies within the domain of the State Governments who set up such Courts as per their need and resources, in consultation with the concerned High Courts. The 14th Finance Commission had endorsed the proposal of the Government for strengthening the judicial system in States, which, inter• alia, included establishing 1800 FTCs for dealing with cases of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children, persons with mental disability and having terminal illness etc. and urged the State Governments to use the additional fiscal space provided in the 14th

------Finance Commission's award in the form of enhanced tax devolution to the states (from 32% to 42%) to meet their funding requirements.

The Government has also followed up the matter and requested State Governments/High Courts for setting up FTCs for expeditious disposal of cases of crimes against women, senior citizens and children as per the recommendations of the 14th FC.

As per information received from various High Courts, FTCs functional during the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 are given in the Annexure. ANNEXURE

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF THE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2022 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.08.2018 REGARDING 'FAST TRACK COURTS' NAME OF THE FTCs functional in FTCs functional in FTCs functional in STATES/UTS calendar year 2015 calendar year 2016 calendar year 2017 Andhra Pradesh 38 38 38 Assam 0 3 0 Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 0 Bihar 0 0 55 Chandigarh 0 0 0 Chhattisgarh 0 14 21 Delhi 15 13 14 Goa 3 5 4 Gujarat 0 0 0 Haryana 0 0 0 Himachal Pradesh 0 0 0 Jammu & Kashmir 5 0 5 Jharkhand 11 12 14 Karnataka 0 0 0 Kerala 0 0 0 Madhya Pradesh 0 0 0 Maharashtra 80 100 100 Manipur 2 0 3 Meghalaya 0 0 0 Mizoram 0 0 0 Nagaland 2 0 0 Odisha 0 0 0 Punjab 2 0 0 Puducherry 0 0 0 Rajasthan 0 0 0 Sikkim 1 1 2 Tamil Nadu 0 39 69 Telengana 34 34 34 Tripura 0 1 3 Uttar Pradesh 0 183 273 Uttarakhand 0 4 4 West Bengal 88 77 88 Total 281 524 727 GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2023

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 03.08.0218

Sanctioned and vacant posts of Judges of High Courts

2023. SHRI C.M. RAMESH:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) the number of sanctioned and vacant posts of Judges in High Courts of various States of the country, along with the details thereof;

(b) the number of vacant posts of Judges in the High Courts which have been filled up during the last two years and by when the remaining posts would be filled up; and

(c) whether Government has set a timeline for filling up of the vacant posts so as to reduce pendency of cases in various High Courts along with the details thereof?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (c): A Statement indicating approved strength, working strength and

vacant posts of Judges, appointments made during 2016-2018 in the Supreme

Court and High Courts is annexed.

Filling up of vacancies in the High Courts is a continuous and collaborative

process .of the Judiciary and Executive involving various Constitutional

Authorities. Hence, the precise time frame for filling up the post of Judges of

Supreme Court and High Courts cannot be indicated.

*****

------Annexure

Statement referred to in reply to Parts (a) to (c) of Rajya SabhaUnstarred Question No. 2023 to be answered on 03.08.2018 regarding "Sanctioned and vacant posts of Judges of High Courts".

Approved, Working Strength, Vacancies & Appointment made during 2016-2018 in the Supreme Court and High Courts (As on 30.07.2018)

51. Nameof the Court Approved Working Vacancies Fresh No. Strength Strength as per Appointment Sanctioned made during Strength 2016-2018 A Supreme Court of 31 22 09 10 India '8 High Court 1 Allahabad 160 90 70 51 2 Telangana & 61 29 11 Andhra Pradesh 32 3 Bombay 94 69 25 20 '4 Calcutta 72 37 35 14 5 Chhattisgarh 22 16 06 10 - 6 Delhi 60 35 25 09 7 Gauhati 24 17 07 07 8 Gujarat 52 29 23 05 9 Himachal Pradesh 13 08 05 04 10 Jammu & Kashmir 17 08 09 03 11 Jharkhand 25 17 08 09 l 12 Karnataka 62 30 32 14 13 Kerala 47 35 12 09 14 Madhya Pradesh 53 34 19 23 ~ 15 Madras 75 63 12 44 16 Manipur 05 03 02 01 =l 17 Meghalaya 04 02 02 00 18 Orissa 27 14 13 00 19 Patna 53 30 23 12 20 Punjab& Haryana 85 50 35 09 21 Rajasthan 50 30 20 16 22 Sikkim 03 02 01 01 23 Tripura 04 03 01 01 24 Uttarakhand 11 08 03 03 Total 1079 659 420 .275 GOVERNMENT OF INDIA . MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTice· DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA

UNST ARRED QUESTION NO. 2024 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 03RD AUGUST, 2018

Measures to reduce huge pendency of cases

2024. DR. VIKAS MAHATME:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) the measures being taken by Government to reduce the huge pendency of cases at all levels of the judiciary; (b) whether there is any proposal under consideration of Government to appoint the Justice of a High Court from the same State to curtail unnecessary delay in filling up the vacancies in the High Courts; and (c) if so, the view of Government in this regard?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) : The Government has taken several steps to provide an ecosystem for faster

disposal of cases by the judiciary. The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal

Reforms established by the Government has adopted a coordinated approach for.

phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration through various

strategic initiatives, including improving infrastructure for courts, leveraging Information

and Communication and Technology (ICT) for better justice delivery, and filling up of

vacant positions of Judges in High Courts and Supreme Court. The major

achievementsduring the last four years under various initiatives to make the functioning

of subordinatejudiciary more efficient are as follows.

(i) Improving infrastructure for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts: As

on date, Rs. 6,302 Crores have been released since the inception of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of lntrastructure Facilities for Judiciary in ~ 1993-94. Out of this, Rs.2,858 Crores (which is 45.35% of the total amount released till date) have been released to the States and UTs since April, 2014. The number of

court halls has increased from 15,818 as on 30.06.2014 to 18,444 as on date and

number of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 15,853 as

on date under this scheme. In addition, 2,709 court halls and 1,472 residential units

are under construction. The Central Government has approved continuation of the

Scheme beyond the 12th Five Year Plan period i.e. from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020

with an estimated additional outlay of Rs.3,320 crore,

(ij) Leveraging Information and Communication Technology (lCT) for improved

justice delivery: Number of computerised District & Subordinate courts has increased

from 13,672 to 16,089 registering an increase of 2,417 during 2014 to 2018. National

Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) has been developed which provides citizens with online

information about case filings, case status and electronic copies of orders and

judgments from district and subordinate courts that have already been computerized.

Information regarding 10.15 crore including 2.75 crore pending cases and more than

6.97 crore orders I judqments are available on this portal. eCourts services such as

details ot case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders & final judgments are

available to litigants and advocates through eCourts web portal, Judicial Service

Centres (JSC) in all computerised courts, eCourts Mobile App email service, SMS

push & pull services. eCourts Project has been consistently amongst the top 5

Mission Mode Projects of country with a total number of transactions during Phase II

at 127.06 crore.

(iii) Filling up of vacant positions in Supreme Court. High Courts and judicial officers

in District and Subordinate Courts: During May 2014 - July 2018, 18 Judges were ..

appointed in Supreme Court; 349 new Judges were appointed and 316 Additional , Judges were made Permanent in the High Courts. Sanctioned strength of Judges of

High Courts has been increased from 906 in May, 2014 to 1079 currently. Sanctioned

and working strength of Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate Courts has been

increased as follows: Working strength As on Sanctionedstrength 15,115 31.12.2013 19,518 17,109 31.03.2018 22,545

(iv) Reduction in Pendency through I follow up by Arrears Committees: Further, In

pursuance of resolution passed in Chief Justices' Conference held in April, 2015,

Arrears Committees have been set up in 24 High Courts to clear cases pending for

more than five years. Arrears Committees have been set up under District Judges

too. Arrears Committee has been constituted in the Supreme Court to formulate

steps to reduce pendency of cases in High Courts and District Courts.

(v) Nyaya Mitra Scheme: In order to reduce cases pending in courts for over 10

years, the Government launched the Nyaya Mitra Scheme in April 2017. Under the

Scheme, retired judicial officers are engaged and designated as 'Nyaya Mitra' to

facilitate expeditious disposal of the cases pending over 10 years. In the first Phase,

15 Nyaya Mitra have been engaged in 15 Districts of Rajasthan,West Bengal, Bihar,

UP and Tripura. (vi) To reduce pendency through Lok Adalats: A total of 140.63 lakh pending cases

were settled by National Lok Adalats during 2015 to 2017.86.14 lakh pending cases

and 103.73 lakh pre-litigative cases were settled in Regular Lok Adalats during 2015-

16 to 2017-18. 3.21 lakh pre-litigative cases relating to public utility services were

settled in Permanent Lok Adalats during 2015-16 to 2017-18. •

(vii) Emphasis on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): Commercial Courts,

Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts

(Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 has been promulgated on 3rd May, 2018, whereby

mandatory pre-Institution mediation mechanism has been introduced for settlement

of commercial disputes.

A Bill to replacethis Ordinance has been passed by the Lok Sabha on 01.08.2018.

(viii) Initiatives to Fast Track Special Type of Cases: The Fourteenth Finance

Commission endorsed the proposal of the Government to strengthen the judicial

system in States which included, inter-alia, establishing Fast Track Courts for cases

of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children etc. At present,

727 such Fast Track Courts are functioning across the country. To fast track criminal

cases involving elected MPs / MLAs, twelve (12) Special Courts have been set up in

eleven (11) States (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,

Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and NCT of Delhi)

and proportionate funds have been released to these States by the Government.

The Government also promulgated 'The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance,

2018' to amend the IPC, Cr PC, the Indian Evidence Act and the Protection of

Children from Sexual offences Act, 2012, and the Bill to replace this Ordinance has

been passed by Lok Sabha on 30.07.2018.

(b) & (c): Judges of High Courts are appointed under Articles 217 (1) and 224 of the

Constitution. As per the existing Memorandumof Procedure for appointment of Judges of High Courts, the Chief Justice of the High Court is required to initiate the proposal for filling up of vacancies of a Judge in a High Court.

************** GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2025

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 03RD AUGUST, 2018

Slow pace of justice system

2025. SHRI ANIL DESAI:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) whether it is a fact that country's justice system is very slow and understaffed, resulting in cases taking so long to be heard and justice has long been denied to many people due to this, if so, the details thereof; (b) whether currently the time taken to register a case and going to Lower Courts and High Courts or the Supreme Court takes several years and if so, the

details thereof; (c) the number of cases pending before Lower Courts, High Courts and the

Supreme Court; and (d) the details of the proposals before the Government to tackle this crisis?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a): Disposal of cases pending in courts is within the domain of judiciary. The actual time taken for disposal of a case depends on several factors such as category of the case (civil or criminal). complexity of the facts involved, nature of evidence, co-operation of stake-holders viz. bar, investigation agencies, witnesses and litigants besides the availability of physical infrastructure, supporting court staff and applicable rules of procedure. A number of expert committees including Law Commission of India have gone into reasons for delayed disposal and, consequent, pendency of cases. Based on the recommendations made, Government has carried out amendments to Code of Civil Procedure (C. P. C.) and Criminal Procedure Code (Cr. P. C~)for expediting the disposal of cases and, consequent, reduction in pendency in courts. (b) : In the and all High Courts fresh cases are filed only before the computerized Filing Counters. The Data Entry Operator enters preliminary details required for registration such as party names, advocate details, etc. Operator at the query counter attends to the queries of the litigants on the spot. The defects, if any, are listed out and handed over to the litigants/advocates for rectification. Time limitation is also checked by the system automatically. The amount collected towards court fee is automatically calculated thus saving the time of all concerned. Hence, the filing process is orderly and saves time and efforts of advocates

and court officials. (c): Data on pendency of cases in the Supreme Court and High Courts is maintained by the Supreme Court and High Courts respectively. As per latest information available on the website of Supreme Court of India, the total number of pending cases in the Supreme Court is 54,013. As per information available on the web-portal of National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), 43,57,574 cases are pending in various High Courts as on 30.07.2018. As• on 30.07.2018, a total of 2,75,56,351 cases are pending in various District and Subordinate courts of the country (excluding State I , .

Union Territories of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Lakshadweep and

Puducherry). (d) : The Government has taken several steps to provide an ecosystem for faster disposal of cases by the judiciary. The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms established by the Government has adopted a coordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration through various strategic initiatives, including improving infrastructure for courts, leveraging Information and Communication Technology (lCT) for better justice delivery, and filling up of vacant positions of Judges in High Courts and Supreme Court. The major achievements during the last four years under various initiatives to make the functioning of subordinate judiciary more efficient are as follows. (i) Improving infrastructure for Judicial Officers of District and .. ' .~ Subordinate Courts: As on date, Rs. 6,302 crorE\h,i~ been released since the inception of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary in 1993-94. Out of this, Rs.2,858 crore (which is 45.35% of the total amount released till date) have been released to the States and UTs since April, 2014. The number of court halls has increased from 15,818 as on 30.06.2014 to 18,444 as on date and number of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 15,853 as on date under this scheme. In addition, 2,709 court halls and 1,472 residential units are under construction. The Central Government has approved continuation of the Scheme beyond the 1ih Five Year Plan period i.e. from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020 with an estimated additional outlay of Rs.3,320 crore. (ii) Leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for improved justice delivery: Number of computerised District & Subordinate courts has increased from 13,672 to 16,089 registering an increase of 2,417 during 2014 to 2018. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) has been developed which provides citizens with online information about case filings, case status and electronlc copies of orders and judgments from district and subordinate courts that have already been computerized. Information regarding 10.15 crore including 2.75 crore pending cases and more than 6.97 crore orders I judgments are available on this portal. eCourts services such as details of case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders & final judgments are available to litigants and advocates through eCourts web portal, Judicial Service Centres (JSC) in all computerised courts, eCourts Mobile App, email service, SMS push & pull services. eCourts Project has been consistently amongst the top 5 Mission Mode Projects of country with a total number of transactions during Phase

II at 127.06 crore. (iii) Filling up of vacant positions in Supreme Court, High Courts and judicial officers in District and Subordinate Courts: During May 2014 - July 2018, 18 Judges were appointed in Supreme Court; 349 new Judges were appointed and 316 Additional Judges were made Permanent in the High Courts. Sanctioned strength of Judges of High Courts has been increased from 906 in May, 2014 to 1079 currently. Sanctioned and working strength of Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate Courts has been increased

as follows :- Working strength As on Sanctioned strength 15,115 31.12.2013 19,518 17,109 31.03.2018 22,545

(iv) Reduction in Pendency through I follow up by Arrears Committees: Further, in pursuance of resolution passed in Chief Justices' Conference held in April, 2015, Arrears Committees have been set up in 24 High Courts to clear cases pending for more than five years. Arrears Committees have been set up under District Judges too. Arrears Committee has been constituted in the Supreme Court to formulate steps to reduce pendency of cases in High Courts and District Courts. (v) Nyaya Mitra Scheme: In order to reduce cases pending in courts for over 10 years, the Government launched the Nyaya Mitra Scheme in April 2017. Under the Scheme, retired judicial officers are engaged and designated as 'Nyaya Mitra' to facilitate expeditious disposal of the cases pending over 10 years. In the first Phase, 15 Nyaya Mitra have been engaged in 15 Districts of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, UP and Tripura. (vi) To reduce pendency through Lok Adalats: A total of 140.63 lakh pending cases were settled by National Lok Adalats during 2015 to 2017. 86.14 lakh pending cases and 103.73 lakh pre-litigative cases were settled in Regular Lok Adalats during 2015-16 to 2017-18. 3.21 lakh pre-litigative cases relating to public utility services were settled in Permanent Lok Adalats during 2015-16 to 2017-18. (vii) Emphasis on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High

Courts (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 has been promulgated on 3rd May, 2018, whereby mandatory pre-Institution mediation mechanism has been introduced for settlement of commercial disputes. A Bill to replace this Ordinance has been passed by Lok Sabha on 01.08.2018. (viii) Initiatives to Fast Track Special Type of Cases: The Fourteenth Finance Commission endorsed the proposal of the Government to strengthen the judicial system in States which included, inter-alia, establishing Fast Track Courts for cases of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children etc. At present, 727 such Fast Track Courts are functioning across the country. To fast track criminal cases involving elected MPs I MLAs, twelve (12) Special Courts have

------. been set up in eleven (11) States (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and NCT of Delhi) and proportionate funds have been released to these States by the Government. The Government also promulgated 'The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018' to amend the IPC, Cr PC, the Indian Evidence Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, and the Bill to replace this Ordinance has been passed by Lok Sabha on 30.07.2018. *************** GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUS.TICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ******

RAJYASABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2026 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 3rd AUGUST,2018

Amendment to Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987

t 2026. SHRI DIGVIJAYA SINGH:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

whether Central/State Governments or the Supreme Court of India/High Courts are capable of merging National Legal Services Authority with the State Legal Services Authority by further amending the provisions of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 enacted for the purpose of providing free legal aid/ advice and benefits of Lok Adalatsl mediation to the weaker sections of the society and to further strengthen the said schemes?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW & JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P.P.CHAUDHARY)

As per section 4 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, the

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) performs functions such as

framing effective and economical schemes for making legal services

available; making appropriate allocations of funds to the State Legal

Services Authorities and District Legal Services Authorities; take

------necessary steps by way of social justice litigation with regard to consumer protection, environmental protection or any other matter of concern to the weaker sections of the society; organise legal aid camps; encourage the settlement of disputes through Lok Adalats; undertake and promote research in the field of legal services; and monitor and evaluate implementation of the legal aid programmes.

NALSA also coordinates and monitors the functioning of State Legal

Services Authorities and District Legal Services Authorities.

\ As per section 7 of the above mentioned Act, State Legal

Seryices Authority gives effect to the policy and directions of the

NALSA in general, and performs functions accordingly, such as conducting Lok Adalats and undertaking preventive and strategic legal aid programmes.

Thus, as per the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987, the functions of the National Legal Services Authority and the State Legal

Services Authority have been clearly defined to enable their effective functioning to fulfill the objectives of the legislation.

***** GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE (DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE)

RAJYASABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2029 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 3rd AUGUST, 2018

Missing case files in the Supreme Court and High Courts

2029. SHRI ANUBHA V MOHANTY:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state: (a) the number of very important/important case files or important documents which were found to be missing from the Supreme Court and High Courts during the last 10 years along with the details thereof; (b) the safety measures Government is proposing to take to avoid such losses; and (c) whether Government would consider digitizing all the case files, starting with the most important and sensitive case files, for their proper and safe preservation?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW & JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARy) .

(a) : The details of very important/important case files or important documents which were found to be missing from the Supreme Court and High Courts during the last 10 years along with details, as received from the Supreme Court of India and various High Courts are given in annexure. (b) and (c): The Government is considering digitizing all case files for their proper and safe preservation to avoid losses of case files and important documents. The Government has accepted the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission inter-alia pertaining to digitization of court records of all High Courts, district and subordinate courts. The 14th Finance commission has urged the State Governments to use the additional fiscal space provided by the 14th Finance Commission in the tax devolution from 32% to 42% to meet such requirement. Digitization of case records of High Courts across the country has been initiated and is at varying levels of implementation in different High Courts in the country. The process of digitization of case records in the Supreme Court of India is in progress, where 5,65,522 case files of disposed matters and 41,397 case files of live matters have been scanned till date. ANNEXURE Remarks Sl. No. Name of Court Number of missing case files or important documents during last 10 years Various safety/security 1 Supreme Court of Nil measures including CCTV, India safe vaults, movement registers, physical verification and digitisation have been undertaken to avoid loss of any case files and document. Appropriate preventive and 2 1 security measures have been taken to avoid such losses. Closed Circuit cameras are 3 High Court of Nil movement of Judicature at installed, outsiders is restricted in the Hyderabad administrative block and the High Court is a high security zone. Digitization of pending and disposed off records is also undertaken.

Pursuant to the directions of 4 Bombay High Court Nil Hon'ble High Court all important matters/documents are kept in the custody of the Ld. Prothonotary and Sr. Master. All Arbitration, Company and testamentary matters are being digitalized. 5 106 The figures are on the basis of compiled reports from the Original Side. Initiatives are taken to digitize all case records.

6 Chhattisgarh High 12 Digitization and scanning of Court case records is in progress. Fire extinguisher system has been installed.

7 Delhi High Court Nil CCTV cameras have been installed. Digitization of case I files started in 2006. As on date, all files of decided cases received in scanning branch upto December, 2017 have been digitized. I 8 I Nil Digitization of case records have been started in 2017. 9 Himachal Pradesh Nil Digitization of case records High Court have been started in 2013. 10 Jammu & Kashmir Nil Nil High Court 11 Nil Installation of CCTV cameras, installation of fire extinguishers and digitization of case records.

12 Nil Nil 13 Nil Nil 14 Orissa High Court Nil Digitization of all important and sensitive case files of

" High Court has commenced. File Tracking, scanning and 15 Punjab & Haryana Nil digitization of fresh files are High Court done on a day to day basis. Standing orders to prevent 16 3] losses have been issued in this regard. Digitization is underway. Records are preserved safely in 17 Nil record room. All case records are digitized. Infrastructure is being 18 Nil developed for digitization of case files Nil 19 Uttarakhand High Nil Court For proper safe preservation 20 Nil of files, digitization of disposed of cases has been started and about 1, 17, 35000 pages has been digitized. Access to Judicial 21 Nil departments has been restricted to authorized persons only. High Court has resolved that Closed Circuit I Cameras be installed in all Judicial departments and the work of digitization has already started. I GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA UNST ARRED QUESTION NO. 2030

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 03.08.2018

Bench of Orissa High Court

2030. SHRI PRASANNA ACHARYA: Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state: a) whether a proposal is under consideration of Central Government to set up a bench of Orissa High Court at any place in western Odisha, as recommended by the State Government;

b) if so, the details with current status thereof; and

c) by when the bench is likely to be set up along with the hindrances therein, if any, and the steps Government is taking to accelerate the decision? ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (c): In accordance with the recommendations made by the Jaswant Singh Commission and judgment pronounced by the Apex Court in W.P.(C) No.379 of 2000, Bench( es) of the High Court are established after due consideration of a complete proposal from the State Government, which is to provide infrastructure and meet the expenditure, along with the consent of the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court, who is required to look after the day to day administration of the High Court and its Bench. The proposal 2 should also have the consent of the Governor of the concerned State.

The Government of Odisha has written to the Central Government in September, 2013, for establishment of two Benches of the Orissa High Court in the Western and Southern region of Odisha and the matter was referred to the Chief Justice, Orissa High Court in October, 2013. Setting up bench of Orissa High Court can be initiated by the Central Government only on receipt of all the requisite approvals from the State Constitutional Authorities and High Court of Orissa. Complete proposal has not been received by the

Central Government.

***** GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ******

RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2032

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 3RC AUGUST, 2018

Reduction in burden on jails through Speedytrials t 2032. SHRI PRABHAT JHA:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state

(a)whether it is a fact that most of the under trial prisoners in the jails the country are imprisoned in criminal cases;

(b)if so, whether fast and speedy hearings of the criminal cases would not only assure the basic rights provided by the Constitution but will also lessen the burden on the jails; and

(c) if so, the policy-related measures taken/being taken by Government towards the fast and speedy hearings of criminal cases?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW & JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P.P.CHAUDHARY)

(a): Yes, Sir. As on 31.12.2016 (provisional), a total of 2,93,058 under

trial prisoners were lodged in various jails in the country out of which 2,93,029 under trial prisoners were lodged for offences

under IPC and various Special and Local Laws (SLL).

(b) and (c): The Government has been committed to the cause that

every accused person receives a fair trial and does not languish in

jail longer than is absolutely necessary, as per law.

Various policy related measures taken in this regard are as under:

(i) There are legal provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure,

1973 (Cr.P.C.) to resolve the plight of under trial prisoners (UTPs).

Hon'ble Supreme Court in its order dated 05.09.2014 in the Writ

Petition No.310 of 2005 - Shim Singh versus Union of India & Ors.

had directed judicial officers to hold sittings in jails for effective

implementation of section 436A of the Cr.P.C.

Minister of Law & Justice, vide a letter dated 3rd February

2017, had requested the Chief Justices of all 24 High Courts to

advise the district judiciary to ensure effective implementation of

section 436A of Cr. P.C and ensure periodic monitoring of the

associated Under Trial Review Committee Mechanism.

(ii) Under Trial Review Committees (UTRCs), headed by' the

District & Session Judges, who are also the Chairperson of the

District Legal Services Authorities, have been established in all the

districts. The said Committees holds quarterly meetings. The areas

which are primarily looked into by the UTRCs include UTPs covered under section 436A Cr.P.C.; UTPs who have been

released on bail by the court, but have not been able to furnish

sureties; UTPs accused of compoundable offences; UTPs eligible

under section 436 of Cr.P.C.; convicts who have undergone their

sentence or are entitled to release because of remission granted to

them; UTPs who are imprisoned for offences which carry a

maximum punishment of 2 years; UTPs who are sick or infirm and

require specialized medical treatment; UTPs women offenders.

(iii) Further, Hon'ble Supreme Court of India vide its order dated

31.10.2017 in W.P. (Civil) No.406 of 2013 titled Re-Inhuman

Conditions in 1382 prisons, directed the National Legal Services

Authority (NALSA) to draft a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)

for smooth functioning of UTRCs right from the identification of

UTPs, processing the data, passing of recommendations, and

moving of Bail Applications of the recommended UTPs. NALSA

has since prepared the SOP and has submitted the same to the

Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.

*****

------.. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2033 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 3rd AUGUST, 2018

Fast Track Courts to try rape cases

2033. DR. BANDA PRAKASH:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Ministry has come up with a proposal to set up special Fast Track Courts (FTCs) across the country to try rape cases as part of a larger scheme to strengthen infrastructure for better investigation and swift prosecution in such cases;

(b) whether the Ministry has prepared a draft scheme for setting up of such special FTCs to try rape cases; and

(c) if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER

Minister of State for Law & Justice and Corporate Affairs (SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (c): Yes, Sir. The Government has decided to formulate a Scheme for creation of Fast Track Special Courts for expeditious trial and disposal of rape cases involving women and children. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2034 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 03RD AUGUST, 2018

Pending cases in various courts

2034. SHRI M.P. VEERENDRA KUMAR:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) whether a number of cases are pending in various courts across the country; (b) if so, details thereof, including number of cases pending in Supreme Court and High Courts during each of last four years, court-wise and reasons therefor; (c) sanctioned strength and vacancies of Judges in such courts and action taken by Government to fill these vacancies at the earliest; (d) whether Government has taken note of delay in delivery of justice to litigants for various reasons; and (e) if so, details thereof along with corrective measures taken by Government for expeditious disposal of cases pending in various courts in the country?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) & (b): Data on pendency of cases in the Supreme Court and High Courts is

maintained by the Supreme Court and High Courts respectively. As per information

available, details of cases pending in Supreme Court during last four years are given

below:-

Year Number of Cases pending 59,272 As on 31.12.2015 62,537 As on 31.12.2016 55,259 As on 31.10.2017 54,013 As on 04.05.2018 As per information available High Court-wise details of cases pending during last four years are given in a statement at Annexure - I.

(c) : The details of sanctioned and working strength of Judges in Supreme Court and

High Courts as on 27.07.2018 are given in Annexure - II. Similar details in respect of

District and Subordinate Courts, as on 31.03.2018 as provided by the High Courts and

the respective State Governments are at Annexure - III.

Filling up of vacancies in the Supreme Court and the High Courts is a

continuous and collaborative process, between the Executive and the Judiciary. It

requires consultation and approval from various Constitutional Authorities. Initiation of

proposalfor appointment of Judges in the Supreme Court vests with the Chief Justice of

India, while initiation of proposals for appointment of Judges in the High Courts vests

with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court. While every effort is made to fill up

the existing vacancies expeditiously, vacancies in High Courts keep on arising on

account of retirement, resignation or elevation of Judges (to the Supreme Court) and

also due to increase in the strength of Judges. As per the Constitutional framework, the selection and appointment of judges in

subordinate courts is the responsibility of the High Courts and the State Governments

concerned. In so far as recruitment of judicial officers in the States is concerned,

respective High Courts do it in certain States, whereas the High Courts do it in

consultationwith the State Public Service Commissions in other States.

The Department of Justice had written a letter in March, 2.018to the Registrars

General of High Courts as well as State Governmentsto share the action plan for 2018-

19 to fill up vacancies in subordinate judiciary. All the High Courts have shared the

action plan which they propose to follow to fill up vacancies in subordinate judiciary in

the year 2018-19. The sanctioned strength of Judicial Officers in District and • Subordinate Courts has increased from 19,518 as on 31.12.2013 to 22,545 as on

31.03.2018 and the working strength of Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate

Courts has increased from 15,115 as on 31.12.2013to 17,109 as on 31.03.2018.

(d) : Disposal of cases pending in courts is within the domain of judiciary. The actual

time taken for disposal of a case depends on several factors such as category of the

case (civil or criminal), complexity of the facts involved, nature of evidence, co-operation

of stake-holders viz. bar, investigation agencies, witnesses and litigants besides the

availability of physical infrastructure, supporting court staff and applicable rules of

procedure. A number of expert committees including Law Commission of India have

gone into reasons for delayed disposal and, consequent, pendency of cases. Based on

the recommendations made, Government has carried out amendments to Code of Civil

Procedure (C. P. C.) and Criminal Procedure Code (Cr. P. C.) for expediting the

disposal of cases and, consequent, reduction in pendency in courts.

(e): The Government has taken several steps to provide an ecosystem for faster

disposal of cases by the judiciary. The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal

Reforms established by the Government has adopted a coordinated approach for

phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration through various

strategic initiatives, including improving infrastructure for courts, leveraging Information

and Communication Technology (ICT) for better justice delivery, and filling up of vacant

positions of Judges in High Courts and Supreme Court. The major achievements

during the last four years under various initiatives to make the functioning of subordinate

judiciary more efficient are as follows.

(i) Improving infrastructure for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts: As on

date, Rs. 6,302 crore have been released since the inception of the Centrally

Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary in

1993-94. Out of this, Rs.2,858 crore (which is 45.35% of the total amount released till date) has been released to the States and UTs since April, 2014. The number of court halls has increased from 15,818 as on 30.06.2014 to 18,444 as on date and number of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 15,853 as on date under this scheme. In addition, 2,709 court halls and 1,472 residential units are under construction. The Central Government has approved continuation of the Scheme beyond the 12th Five Year Plan period i.e. from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020 with an estimatedadditional outlay of Rs.3,320 crore.

(ij) Leveraging Information and Communication Technology (lCT) for improved justice delivery: Number of computerised District & Subordinate courts has increased from

13,672 to 16,089 registering an increase of 2,417 during 2014 to 2018. National

Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) has been developed which provides citizens with online information about case filings, case status and electronic copies of orders and judgments from district and subordinate courts that have already been computerized.

Information regarding 10.15 crore including 2.75 crore pending cases and more than

6.97 crore orders I judgments are available on this portal. eCourts services such as details of case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders & final judgments are available to litigants and advocates through eCourts web portal, Judicial Service

Centres (JSC) in all computerised courts, eCourts Mobile App email service, SMS push

& pull services. eCourts Project has been consistently amongst the top 5 Mission Mode

Projects of country with a total number of transactions during Phase II at 127.06 crore.

(iii) Filling up of vacant positions in Supreme Court. High Courts and judicial officers in

District and Subordinate Courts: During May 2014 - July 2018, 18 Judges were appointed in Supreme Court; 349 new Judges were appointed and 316 Additional

Judges were made Permanent in the High Courts. Sanctioned strength of Judges of

High Courts has been increased from 906 in May, 2014 to 1079 currently. Sanctioned • and working strength of Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate Courts has been

increasedas follows :- Working strength As on Sanctionedstrength 15,115 31.12.2013 19,518 17,109 31.03.2018 22,545

(iv) Reduction in Pendency through I follow up by Arrears Committees: Further, in

pursuance of resolution passed in Chief Justices' Conference held in April, 2015,

Arrears Committees have been set up in 24 High Courts to clear cases pending for

more than five years. Arrears Committees have been set up under District Judges too.

Arrears Committee has been constituted in the Supreme Court to formulate steps to

reduce pendency of cases in High Courts and District Courts.

(v) Nyaya Mitra Scheme: In order to reduce cases pending in courts for over 10 years,

the Government launched the Nyaya Mitra Scheme in April 2017. Under the Scheme,

retired judicial officers are engaged and designated as 'Nyaya Mitra' to facilitate

expeditious disposal of the cases pending over 10 years. In the first Phase, 15 Nyaya

Mitra have been engaged in 15 Districts of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, UP and

Tripura. (vi) To reduce pendency through Lok Adalats: A total of 140.63 lakh pending cases

were settled by National Lok Adalats during 2015 to 2017.86.14 lakh pending cases

and 103.73 lakh pre-litigative cases were settled in Regular Lok Adalats during 2015-

16 to 2017-18. 3.21 lakh pre-litigative cases relating to public utility services were

settled in Permanent Lok Adalats during 2015-16 to 2017-18.

(vii) Emphasis on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): Commercial Courts, Commercial

Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Ordinance,

2018 has been promulgated on 3rd May, 2018, whereby mandatory pre-Institution • mediation mechanism has been introduced for settlement of commercial disputes. A Bill to replacethis Ordinance has been passed by Lok Sabha on 01.08.2018.

(viii) Initiatives to Fast Track Special Type of Cases: The Fourteenth Finance

Commissionendorsed the proposal of the Governmentto strengthen the judicial system

in States which included, inter-alia, establishing Fast Track Courts for cases of heinous

crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children etc. At present, 727 such Fast

Track Courts are functioning across the country. To fast track criminal cases involving

elected MPs I MLAs, twelve (12) Special Courts have been set up in eleven (11) States

(Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya

Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and NCT of Delhi) and proportionatefunds

have been released to these States by the Government. The Government also

promulgated 'The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018' to amend the IPC, Cr

PC, the Indian Evidence Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act,

2012, and the Bill to replace this Ordinance has been passed by Lok Sabha on

30.07.2018.

*************** • Annexure-I • Statement referred to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2034 dated 03.08.2018 Pending Cases in various. High Courts during last four years on As on High Court As on As on As 51. 31.12.2017** 30.07.2018. No 31.12.2015* 31.12.2016* 9,16,046 $ 7,12,715 1. I Allahabad 9,18,829 3,02,313 3,84,098 4,03,238 2. Punjab & Haryana 2,88,351 2,97,617 3,14,345 3,14,345 I 3. Madras 2,84,428 2,89,445 3,07,384 3,22,885 4. Madhya Pradesh 2,73,827 2,91,761 3,25,119 3,53,635 5. Andhra Pradesh 2,70,272 4,64,074 2,46,441 2,61,649 4,64,074 i 6. Bombay 2,54,131 2,63,103 2,64,878 7. Rajasthan 2,44,866 2,77,620 2,11,110 2,25,365 8. Karnataka 2,37,454 2,19,064 2,32,116 2,34,835 9. Calcutta 2,21,282 1,68,003 1,68,375 1,67,234 10. Orissa 1,69,453 1,66,735 1,81,114 1,90,171 11. Kerala 1,57,369 I 1,34,459 1,45,056 1,50,771 I 12. Patna 1,28,738 I 75,098 1,09,709 1,09,692 i 13. Gujarat 87,072 i 85,757 57,944 89,456 I 14. Jharkhand 80,419 67,082 69,546 72,932 15. Delhi 68,784 $ 87,695 16. Jammu & Kashmir 56,453 59,404 I 59,463 62,805 \ 17. Chhattisgarh 50,111 55,642 36,910 35,421 I 18. Utlarakhand 26,680 32,004 37,955 37,827 19. Himachal Pradesh 26,533 25,147 39,191 37,733 Gauhati 25,948 29,469 I 20. 16,889 15,622 21. Manipur 3,315 3,286 2,798 2,969 22. Tripura 3,037 2,545 951 1,036 23. Meghalaya 597 700 114 170 212 240 I \ 24. Sikkim 40,15,147 34,27,462 43,57,574 \ \ Total 38,70,373 _j .As per informationfurnished by High Courts .*As per data available on the web-portal (National Judicial Data Grid) $Data as on 31.12.2017was not available on National Judicial Data Grid. ***",***_"'11' " • Annexure -II Statement referred to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2034 dated 03.08.2018 Sanctioned I Working Strength and Vacancies of Judges in Supreme Court and High Courts as on 27.07.2018. Vacancies as per Sr. Approved Working approved strength No. Name of the Court Strength Strength 9 A. ~upreme Court of India 31 22 Pmt. Add!. Total B. High Courts Pmt.Addl Total Pmt. Add!. Total 90 12 58 70 1. ~lIahabad 76 84 160 64 26 17 15 32 2. ITelangana & Andhra Pradesh 46 15 61 29 0 29 14 69 16 c59 25 3. Bombay 71 23 94 55 37 31 04 35 4. Calcutta 54 18 72 23 14 16 08 -02 6 5. ~hhattisgarh 17 05 22 9 07 35 10 15 25 6. Delhi 45 15 60 35 a 17 11 -04 07 7. Gauhati 18 06 24 07 10 0 29 10 13 23 8. Gujarat 39 13 52 29 08 02 03 05 9. Himachal Pradesh 10 03 13 8 0 08 05 04 09 10. Jammu & Kashmir 13 04 17 8 0 07 17 09 -01 08 11.~harkhand 19 06 25 10 14 30 31 01 32 12. Karnataka 47 15 62 16 03 35 03 09 12 13. Kerala 35 12 47 32 34 06 f3 19 14. Madhya Pradesh 40 f3 53 34 0 63 15 -03 12 15. Madras 56 19 75 41 22 03 01 01 02 16. Manipur 04 01 05 3 0 02 01 01 02 17. Meghalaya 03 01 04 02 0 14 06 07 13 18. Orissa 20 07 27 14 0 30 22 01 23 19. Patna 40 13 53 18 12 50 24 11 35 20. Punjab& Haryana 64 21 85 40 10 11 08 19 Rajasthan 38 12 50 27 4 31 121. 0 02 01 a 01 \22. Sikkim 03 0 03 2 03 01 a 01 23. iTripura 04 0 04 3 0 08 02 01 03 24. Uttarakhand 09 02 11 7 01 660 255 164 419 Total 771 308 1079 516 144 ***************** Annexure - III • Statement referred to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2034 dated 03.08.2018 Sanctioned I Working Strength and Vacancies of Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate Courts as on 31.03.2018. Sanctioned Working Vacancy Sr. Name of State I UT Strength Strength No. 912 75 1 Andhra Pradesh and Telangana 987 28 17 11 2 Arunachal Pradesh 430 350 80 3 Assam 1837 1153 684 4 Bihar 30 30 0 5 Chandigarh 399 376 23 6 Chhattisgarh 7 6 1 7 Dadra & Nagar Haveili and Daman and Diu 518 281 8 Delhi 799 55 44 11 9 Goa 1116 380 10 Gujarat 1496 645 496 149 11 Haryana 148 11 Himachal Pradesh 159 12 224 37 13 Jammu & Kashmir 261 672 462 210 14 Jharkhand 1061 242 Karnataka 1303 15 479 57 Kerala 536 16 2 1 Lakshadweep 3 17 1315 706 Madhya Pradesh 2021 18 1914 183 Maharashtra 2097 19 39 11 Manipur 50 20 39 58 21 Meghalaya 97 46 21 Mizoram 67 22 21 12 23 Nagaland 33 649 213 24 Orissa 862 12 14 25 Puducherry 26 674 538 136 26 Punjab 116 27 Rajasthan 1237 1121 19 28 Sikkim 23 41 1121 913 208 29 Tamilnadu 32 Tripura 107 75 30 1360 Uttar Pradesh 3224 1864 31 61_J 32 Uttarakhand 292 231 48 33 West Bengal & A & N 967 919 5,436 Total 22,545 17,109 ************* GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RAJYASABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *265

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, 10TH AUGUST, 2018.

Government's plan for reducing the litigation cost

*265. SHRI P. L. PUNIA:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) the number of cases pending in the Supreme Court, High Courts and various districts courts and Tribunals, as on date; (b) whether Government has taken any initiative to reduce the backlog of cases in the Supreme Court, High Courts and various district courts and Tribunals in the country; and (c) whether Government has any plans to reduce the litigation cost for the common I poor people and the total amount spent by Government for the legal aid during the last three financial years?

ANSWER

MINISTEROF LAW AND JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS Ca)to Cc)of RAJYA

SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *265 FOR ANSWER ON 10TH AUGUST, 2018. Data on pendency of cases in the Supreme Court and High Courts is maintained by the Supreme Court and High Courts respectively. The total number of pending cases in the Supreme Court is 54,996 as on 30.07.2018. As per information available on the web-portal of National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), 43,61,043 cases are pending in various High Courts as on 07.08.2018, and a total of 2,76,73,401 cases are pending in various District and Subordinate courts of the country (excluding State I Union Territories of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Lakshadweep and Puducherry)as on 07.08.2018. Details of cases pending in various District and Subordinate Courts are given in a Statement at Annexure. Indian Law Institute (Ill) in its report on the Merger of Tribunals in India (2016) has identified 36 Tribunals. List of Tribunals presentlyfunctioning in the country and cases pending in them are not available on the centralised web-portal viz. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG). The Government has taken several initiatives to provide an ecosystem for faster disposal of cases by the judiciary. The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms established by the Government has adopted a coordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration through various strategic initiatives, including improving infrastructure for courts, leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for better justice delivery, and filling up of vacant positions of Judges in High Courts and Supreme Court. The major achievements during the last four years under various initiatives to make the functioning of subordinate judiciary more efficient are as follows: (i) Improving infrastructure for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts: As on date, Rs. 6,380.57 crores have been released since the inception of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary in 1993-94. Out of this, 2,936.27 crores (which are 46% of the total amount released till date) have been released to the States and UTs since April, 2014. The number of court halls has increased from 15,818 as on 30.06.2014 to 18,444 as on date and number of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 15,853 as on date under this scheme. In addition, 2,709 court halls and 1,472 residential units are under construction. The Central Government has approved continuation of the Scheme beyond the 1ih Five Year Plan period i.e. from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020 with an estimated additional outlay of Rs.3,320 crore. (ii) Leveraging Information and Communication Technology (lCT) for improved justice delivery: Number of computerised District & Subordinate courts has increased from 13,672 to 16,089 registering an increase of 2,417 during 2014 to 2018. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) provides citizens with online information about case filings, case status and electronic copies of orders and judgments from district and subordinate courts that have already been computerized. Information regarding 10.25 crore including 2.75 crore pending cases and more than 7.08 crore orders' / jUdgments are available on this portal. eCourts services such as details of case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders & final judgments are available to litigants and advocates through eCourts web portal, Judicial Service Centres (JSC) in all computerised courts, eCourts Mobile App, email service, SMS push & pull services. eCourts Project has been consistently amongst the top 5 Mission Mode Projects of country with a total number of transactions during Phase II at 127.06 crore.

(iii) Filling up of vacant positions in Supreme Court, High Courts and judicial officers in District and Subordinate Courts: During May 2014- August 2018, 21 Judges were appointed in Supreme Court; 351 new Judges were appointed and 317 Additional Judges were made Permanent in the High Courts. Sanctioned strength of Judges of High Courts has been increased from 906 in May, 2014 to 1079 currently. Sanctioned and working strength of Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate Courts has been increased as follows:

As on Sanctioned Strength Working Strength 31.12.2013 19,518 15,115 31.03.2018 22,545 17,109

(iv) Reduction in Pendency through / follow up by Arrears Committees: Further, in pursuance of resolution passed in Chief Justices' Conference held in April, 2015, Arrears Committees have been set up in 24 High Courts to clear cases pending for more than five years. Arrears Committees have been set up under District Judges too. Arrears Committee has been constituted in the Supreme Court to formulate steps to reduce pendency of cases in High Courts and District Courts. (v) Nyaya Mitra Scheme: In order to reduce cases pending in courts for over 10 years, the Government launched the Nyaya Mitra Scheme in April 2017. Under the Scheme, retired judicial officers are engaged and designated as 'Nyaya Mitra' to facilitate expeditious disposal of . the cases pending over 10 years. In the first Phase, 15 Nyaya Mitra have been engaged in 15 Districts of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura. (vi) To reduce pendency through Lok Adalats: A total of 140.63 lakh pending cases were settled by National Lok Adalats during 2015 to 2017. 86.14 lakh pending cases and 103.73 lakh pre-litigative cases were settled in Regular Lok Adalats during 2015-16 to 2017-18. 3.21 lakh pre-litigative cases relating to public utility services were settled in Permanent Lok Adalats during 2015-16 to 2017-18. • Emphasis on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 has been promulgated

on 3rd May, 2018 whereby mandatory pre-Institution mediation mechanism has been introduced for settlement of commercial disputes. A Bill to replace this Ordinance has been passed by Lok Sabha on 01.08.2018. • Amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 by the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2015 is done to expedite the speedy resolution of disputes by prescribing timelines. • A High-Level Committee (HLC) set up by the Central Government has recommended setting up of an independent body namely, Arbitration Council of India (ACI) to inter-alia grade arbitral institutions, accredit arbitrators and impart training and award certificate in the ADR field.

• The HLC has also recommended a proposal to set up Institute of national importance namely, New Delhi International Arbitration Centre, by taking over the undertakings of International Centre for Alternate Dispute Resolution (ICADR). (vii) Initiatives to Fast Track Special Type of Cases: The Fourteenth Finance Commission endorsed the proposal of the Government to strengthen the judicial system in States which included, inter-alia, establishing Fast Track Courts for cases of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children etc., and urged the State Governments to use the additional fiscal space provided in the form of enhanced tax devolution form 32% to 42% to meet such requirements. At present, 727 such Fast Track Courts are functioning across the country. To fast track criminal cases involving elected MPs I MLAs, twelve (12) Special Courts have been set up in eleven (11) States (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and NCT of Delhi) and proportionate funds have been released to these States by the Government. The Government also promulgated 'The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018' to amend the IPC, Cr PC, the Indian Evidence Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, and the Bill to replace this Ordinance has been passed by Lok Sabha on 30.07.2018. The Government has undertaken a number of measures to make available affordable and easy justice to the common man in the country. The Government has implemented Access to Justice Project since 2012 in 8 States of the North East namely, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim and the State of Jammu & Kashmir in partnership with State Legal Services Authorities and State Governments. Under the project, a number of legal aid and literacy programmes are being implemented in these States. The Government in partnership with UNDP also . implemented another project on Access to Justice in 8 States namely, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Odisha and Maharashtra from 2009 to 2017. Under the project, training and capacity building of panel lawyers, para-legal volunteers, elected representatives of gram panchayats and anganwadi workers have been undertaken. In April, 2017, Government has launched three new legal empowerment initiatives, namely, Tele-Iaw, Pro Bono legal services and Nyaya Mitra. Tele-Iaw scheme has been launched in 1,800 gram panchayats in 11 States of the country for providing free legal aid to marginalised persons as mentioned in section 12 of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987. As on 31.07.2018, legal advice has been provided in 23,972 cases. Under Pro Bono legal services scheme, 281 advocates have been registered for providing pro bono legal services. Nyaya Mitras are required to assist the judiciary in the disposal of long pending cases and also to provide free legal advice to marginalised persons. Under the Nyaya Mitra scheme, 15 Nyaya Mitras have been engaged in 6 States namely, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthanand Tripura. National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, has also undertaken a number of measures to make available affordable and speedy justice to the common man in the country. Under the Act, legal services institutions have been set up at state, district and taluka level. Apart from the legal services institutions, High Court Legal Services Committees are constituted at all High Courts level and the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee at the Supreme Court level to provide free legal services to the persons eligible under section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act. Free legal services include payment of court fees, providing advocate and preparation of paper book etc.

Legal aid clinics set up in jails, observation homes, juvenile justice boards and law schools are manned by panel lawyers and para-legal volunteers of legal services authorities. A total number of 20,925 legal services clinics have been established in the country as on 31.03.2018. NALSA has also developed schemes and programmes to ensure equitable access to justice for specific categories of people who are excluded from the formal legal system due to political, cultural, social or environmental conditions. During 2017-18, more than 8.22 lakh persons have benefited through legal services provided by them. The total amount spent by Government for the legal aid during the last three financial years is as under:

(Rs. Crore) Scheme I Grants-in-aid 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 Access to Justice - ExternallyAided Project 6.19 6.45 6.39 in association with UNDP [upto 31.12.2017] Access to Justice (NEJK) 3.29 5.82 3.94 Grants-in-aid to NALSA 67.97 63.67 100.00 ************ Annexure Statement referred to Rajya Sabha Starred Question No. 265 for reply on 10.08.2018

Details of cases pending in district and subordinate courts as on 07.08.2018 Sr. State Total Cases pending No. 1. Uttar Pradesh 66,55,134 2. Maharashtra 34,47,043 3. West Bengal 18,82,221 4. Bihar 17,81,336 5. Gujarat 15,49,139 6. Karnataka 14,61,617 7. Rajasthan 14,51,968 8. Madhya Pradesh 14,07,488 9. Kerala 12,54,124 10. Tamil Nadu 10,84,583 11. Orissa 10,79,359 12. Delhi 6,85,261 13. Haryana 6,73,350 14. Punjab 6,01,523 15. Andhra Pradesh 5,17,263 I 16. Telangana 4,88,587 17. Jharkhand 3,47,508 18. Assam 2,78,232 19. Chhattisgarh 2,65,151 20. Himachal Pradesh 2,42,241 21. Uttarakhand 2,29,969 I 22. Jammu and Kashmir 1,42,825 23. Goa 42,700 24. Chandigarh 41,596 25. Tripura 24,091 26. Andaman and Nicobar 11,185 27. Manipur 10,022 28. Meghalaya 6,931 29. Mizoram 3,970 30. Dadra and Nagar Haveli at Silvasa 3,509 31. Diu and Daman 2,043 32. Sikkim 1,432 Total Pending Cases 2,76,73,401 Source: National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) ****************** GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ****"'*

RAJYA SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 2831 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 10th AUGUST, 2018

Legal aid for poor women prisoners

2831. SHRI MAHESH PODDAR:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) wheth~r it is a fact that the poor women prisoners hardly get the legal aid: (b) if so, whether Government would appoint lawyers to help such women; (c) whether Government would set up any system to monitor the attendance of such lawyers and the number of cases handled by them on monthly basis; (d) if so, the details thereof; and (e) if not, the reasons therefor?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW & JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P.P.CHAUDHARY)

(a) and (b): No, Sir. Under section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, all women, including women prisoners, are eligible for free legal aid. As on 31.03.2018, 1062 Legal Services Clinics have been opened in jails to provide legal services to prisoners in general, including women prisoners. 9563 Remand Advocates have been appointed in Magisterial Courts and Session Courts for providing legal services to arrestee in the criminal courts. Further, in order to sensitise women prisoners about free legal aid and their legal rights including right to bail, awareness camps / programmes are conducted in jails at regular intervals. In the month of May, 2018, 1870 legal services camps were held inside jails specifically for women prisoners to create awareness and provide legal aid to them.

(c) to (e): District Legal Services Authorities are monitoring the court based legal services rendered and the progress of cases in legal aid matters including the services of remand advocates and panel lawyers. A statement showing the number of persons in custody, which includes women, who have benefitted through legal services and advice, during the financial year 2017-18, is given in the Annexure. •

Annexure Statement referred to in reply to Part (c) to (e) of Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No.2831 raised by Shri Mahesh Poddar regarding Legal aid for poor women prisoners for answer on 10.08.2018 S. State No. of persons in custody No. 2017-18 1 Andaman &'Nicobar Islands 93 2 Andhra Pradesh 992 3 Arunachal Pradesh 440 4 Assam 2015 5 Bihar 10225 6 Chhattisgarh 10247 7 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 0 8 Daman & Diu 9 9 Delhi 15657 10 Goa 303 11 Gujarat 4043 12 Haryana 7715 13 Himachal Pradesh 135 14 Jammu & Kashmir 68 15 Jharkhand 3817 16 Karnataka 5781 17 Kerala 21220 18 Lakshadweep 0 19 Madhya Pradesh 23039 20 Maharashtra 4030 453 21 Manipur - 22 Meghalaya 426 23 Mizoram 1620 24 Nagaland 596 25 Odisha 764 26 Puducherry 38 27 Punjab 8096 28 Rajasthan 5714 29 Sikkim 348 30 Tamil Nadu 3401 31 Telengana 3656 32 Tripura 307 33 U. T. Chandigarh 346 34 Uttar Pradesh 6627 35 Uttarakhand .972 36 West Bengal 4469 Total 147662 GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENTOF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2832 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 10TH AUGUST, 2018

Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for the Judiciary

2832. SHRI DEREK O'BRIEN:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) the details of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for the Judiciary; (b) the amount of money spent under the scheme, so far, the State-wise details thereof; and (c) the targets set by Government under the scheme and whether they have been achieved?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (c): The Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of

Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary is being implemented since

1993-94 in order to augment the resources of State Governments in

this regard by providing financial assistance to the States I UTs. It

covers the construction of court buildings and residential

accommodations of judicial officers of District and Subordinate

Judiciary. So far, an amount of Rs. 6,380.57 crores has been

sanctioned since the inception of the Scheme in 1993-94. Out of

this, Rs. 2,936.27 crores (46%) have been sanctioned to the States

and UTs since April, 2014. The details of State I UT - wise funds sanctioned under the Scheme so far are given in a Statement at

Annexure. The Central Government has approved continuation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of

Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary beyond the 12thFive Year Plan period i.e. from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020 with an outlay is Rs.3,320 crore for completion of on-going projects for construction of 3,000 court halls and 1,800 residential units for judicial officers of District and Subordinate Courts.

*************** .. . , • AnnHu~ Statement referred to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2832 for reply on 10th August, 2018 Details of funds sanctioned to State Governments I UT Administrations under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary since inception of the Scheme in 1993-94. (Rs. in Lakh) SI. State Total Funds sanctioned (1993-94 to 2018-19) as on No. 06.08.2018 1. Andhra Pradesh 15,964.45 2. Bihar 22,961.72 3. Chhattisgarh 7,181.07 4. Goa 1,114.93 5. Gujarat 51,766.42 15,786.42 6. Harvana 7. Himachal Pradesh 3,132.00 8. Jammu & Kashmir 17,601.60 9. Jharkhand 17,146.52 10. Karnataka 62,673.85 11. Kerala 8,587.30 12. Madhya Pradesh 35,113.04 13. Maharashtra 65,974.86 14. Orissa 9,024.27 15. Punjab 48,631.92 16. Rajasthan 17,510.51 17. Tamil nadu 20,131.46 18. Uttarakhand 11,888.16 19. UttarPradesh 91,563.57 20. West Bengal 16,209.46 Total CA) 5,39,963.53 North Eastern States 1. Arunachal Pradesh 4,756.44 2. Assam 15,079.30 3. Manipur 6,628.71 4. Meghalaya 9,462.00 5. Mizoram 6,296.29 6. Nagaland 10,795.64 7. Sikkim 4,630.39 8. Tripura 7,053.45 Total (B) 64,702.22 Union Territories 1. A & N Islands 1,155.23 2. Chandigarh 3,900.95 3. Dadra & Nagar Haveli 706.25 4. Daman & Diu 232.43 5. Delhi 21,437.40 6. Lakshadweep 51.25 7. Pondicherry 5,908.56 Total (C) 33,392.07 Grand Total (A+B+C) 6,38,057.82 ******************** GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ******

RAJYASABHA

UNST ARRED QUESTION NO. 2833 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 10th AUGUST,2018

Fast Track Courts for releasing prisoners, Imprisoned for petty crimes etc.

+2833. SHRI SURENDRA SINGH NAGAR:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a)whether it is a fact that Government if formulating any policy for the acquittal of lakhs of prisoners, imprisoned for petty crimes, non• payment of the amount of bail and those imprisoned even after the completion of period of punishment, by constituting the Fast Track Courts for their release;

(b)if so, the details thereof, and

(c) if not, the reasons therefor?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW & JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P.P.CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (c): Setting up of Fast Track Courts and their functioning comes within the domain of the State Governments in consultation with respective High Courts, as per their need and resources. The Union Government is committed to the cause that every

accused person receives a fair trial and does not languish in jail

longer than is absolutely necessary, as per law. There are legal

provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.) to

resolve the plight of under trial prisoners (UTPs). Hon'ble Supreme

Court in its order dated 05.09.2014 in the Writ Petition No.310 of

2005 - Shim Singh versus Union of India & Drs. had directed judicial officers to hold sittings in jails for effective implementation of section

436A of the Cr.P.C.

Minister of Law & Justice, vide letter dated 3rd February 2017, had requested the Chief Justices of all 24 High Courts to advise the district judiciary to ensure effective implementation of section 436A

Cr.P.C. and ensure periodic monitoring of the associated Under Trial

Review Committee Mechanism.

Under Trial Review Committee (UTRC) which is set up in the

Districts, is headed by the District & Session Judge, who is also the

Chairperson of the District Legal Services Authority. The said committee holds quarterly meetings. The areas which are primarily looked into by the UTRCs include (i) UTPs covered under section

436A of Cr.P.C.; (ii) UTPs released on bail by the court, but who • have not been able to furnish sureties; (iii) UTPs accused of

compoundable offences; (iv) UTPs eligible under section 436 of

Cr.P.C.; (v) convicts who have undergone their sentence or are

entitled to release because of remissiongranted to them.

Further, Hon'ble Supreme Court of India vide its order dated

31.10.2017 in W.P. (Civil) No.406 of 2013 titled Re-Inhuman

Conditions in 1,382 prisons, directed the National Legal Services

Authority (NALSA) to draft a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)

for smooth functioning of UTRCs right from the identification of UTPs,

processing the data, passing of recommendations, and moving of

Bail Applications of the recommended UTPs.

NALSA has prepared the SOP for the UTRCs and submitted

the same to the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in W.P. (Civil)

No.406 of 2013 titled Re-Inhuman Conditions in 1,382 prisons.

***** GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RAJYASABHA

UNSTARREO QUESTION NO. 2837 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 10TH AUGUST, 2018

Telecast of live proceedings of Supreme Court

2837. DR. T. SUBBARAMI REDDY: SHRIMATI AMBIKA SONI:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) whether there is any proposal to telecast live proceedings of the Supreme Court, as observed by the Supreme Court, to help litigants to watch the proceedings and to assess the lawyers' performance; (b) if so, whether Government would start a separate dedicated channel for this purpose; (c) whether any guidelines for livestreaming of proceedings have been framed, if so, the details thereof; and (d) by when the live-streaming of court proceedings would start?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (d): A Writ Petition has been filed in the Hon'ble Supreme Court, seeking declaration for permitting live streaming of Supreme Court case

proceedings of constitutional and national importance having an impact on the public at large and a direction to make available the necessary

infrastructure for live streaming and to frame guidelines for the

determination of such cases which are of constitutional and national

importance. The writ petition has been converted into Public Interest

Litigation and the matter is sub-judice at present.

*************** GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE (DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE)

RAJYASABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2839 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 10th AUGUST, 2018

Updation of data in National Judicial Data Grid

2839. SHRI KANAKAMEDALA RAVINDRA KUMAR:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) whether Government is aware of the fact that non-updation of data in National Judicial Data Grid by Subordinate Courts has become a serious problem in the country; (b) if so, the details thereof; (c) whether Government proposes to make any special provision in "e-Court Project" so that hassle-free internet connectivity can be provided to all District and Taluka Courts in the country; (d) if so, the details thereof; and (e) if not, the reasons therefor?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW & JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARy)

(a) and (b): Updation;?fdata in National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) is regularly done by Subordinate Courts across the country. Some courts are unable to update case data due to various reasons including speed of connectivity. As per information available on NJDG, 563 out of 6374 court establishments (8.83% of the court establishments) have not uploaded the case data for more than 7 days as on s" August, 2018. The state wise number of court establishments which have not been able to upload daily progress case data in NJDG for more than 7 days as on 8.8.2018 is given below:

Sr. State Number of Court No. Establishments

1 Andhra Pradesh 1 2 Andaman and Nicobar 4 3 Assam 7 4 Bihar 13 5 Chhattisgarh 8 6 Delhi 1 7 Gujarat 326 8 Jammu and Kashmir 15 9 Jharkhand 10 10 Karnataka 8 11 Kerala 20 12 Madhya Pradesh 9 13 Maharashtra 33 14 Manipur 7. 15 Meghalaya 3 16 Mizoram 4 17 Orissa 30 18 Rajasthan 10 • •

-- 19 Tamil Nadu 20 20 Telangana 2 21 Tripura 1 22 Uttar Pradesh 20 23 Uttarakhand 6 24 West Bengal 5 Total 563

(c) to (e): Yes, Sir. Since hassle free network connectivity to all district and subordinate courts is essential for a reliable data grid. The eCommittee of the Supreme Court of India and the Department of Justice has approved a Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity project connecting all the district and taluka courts through BSNL in a single network grid under the eCourts Project. Department of Justice has issued work order to BSNL in May 2018 for establishing Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity at 3064 Court Complexes, including 458 unconnected court complex sites under e-Courts Project at a cost ofRs. 169.61crores. BSNL has completed feasibility studies of all hitherto unconnected district and subordinate court complexes across the country.