Digital Transformation of the Indian Judiciary (e-Courts Mission Mode Project) (UPSC/RAS/PSI)

Nodal Ministry- Ministry of Law and Justice (Department of Justice) in association with the e-Committee, Supreme Court of India

1. Formally launched in 2007, the e-Courts Mission Mode Project is a Pan-India project aimed at transforming paper-based court processes into a digital, transparent, and trackable justice delivery system.
2. Decadal Case Capacity- Between 2014 and 2025, annual new case filings grew from 1.0 crore to 2.6 crore, while case disposals nearly tripled from 0.8 crore to 2.5 crore.
3. Mass Digitization Footprint- Over 753 crore pages of legacy court records have been digitized as of mid-2026, preserving records from physical damage and accelerating case research.
4. Financial Outlay (Phase III)- Phase III (2023–2027) operates with a central outlay of ₹7,210 crore, shifting the emphasis toward paperless courts, cloud integration, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
5. Citizen Inclusion- Established 2,584 functional e-Sewa Kendras across High Courts (49) and District Courts (2,535) to bridge the digital divide for digitally illiterate litigants.

Phased Chronology of the e-Courts Project

Phase I (2011–2015) Basic Infrastructure

1. Budget outlay of ₹935 crore focused on hardware procurement and basic networking.
2.  Computerized 14,249 trial courts, wired LAN to 13,683 courts, and deployed Case Management Software across 13,672 courtrooms.
3.  Installed basic Video Conferencing (VC) links connecting 493 courts and 347 jails.

Phase II (2015–2023) Citizen-Centric Digital Services

1. Budget outlay of ₹1,670 crore focused on service delivery channels.
2.  Expanded computerization to 18,735 courts and connected 99.5% of court complexes via Wide Area Network (WAN).
3.  Scaled VC facilities to 3,240 courts and 1,272 jails, while introducing the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), e-Filing, and physical e-Sewa Kendras.

Phase III (2023–2027) Intelligent & Paperless Judiciary

1. Budget outlay of ₹7,210 crore deploying emerging technologies.                      
2. Targets complete digitisation of legacy records, cloud-based data security, paperless courtroom workflows, and AI-assisted case management.

Key Functional Platforms & Technological Infrastructure

National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)-

1. Real-time online public dashboard tracking pending and disposed cases across the Supreme Court, 25 High Courts, and District Courts.
2. Categorizes pendency by stage (admission, hearing, judgment) and flags procedural causes for delay (e.g., non-availability of parties, pending documents).

Universal e-Filing & e-Payments Platform-

1. Enables round-the-clock online filing of pleadings, Vakalatnamas, and petitions in English and regional languages.
   
2. Over 1.25 crore cases e-filed as of June 30, 2026, processing ₹1,404 crore in court fees and ₹75 crore in fines through digital payment gateways.

 National Service and Tracking of Electronic Processes (NSTEP)-

1. Centralized web and mobile application used by bailiffs to execute court summonses and legal notices electronically.
2.  Deployed across 6,895 courts, leveraging real-time GPS tracking to eliminate delays in serving physical notices.

 Virtual Courts for Petty Offences-

1. 31 Virtual Courts established to adjudicate summary traffic challans online.
2. Processed 11.33 crore challans, collecting ₹1,135.79 crore in fines without requiring personal appearance in court.

Secure Cloud Migration (S3WaAS)-

1. Migrated 734 High Court and District Court websites onto the secure government cloud platform (Secure, Scalable and Sugamya Website as a Service).
   

Integration Across the Criminal Justice Chain (ICJS Ecosystem)

• The Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) enables seamless, electronic data transfer across all pillars of the criminal justice system-

1. CCTNS (Police)- FIRs, chargesheets, and Nyaya Sanhita deadline alerts
2. e-Prosecution- Digital workflow linking police and public prosecutors
3. e-Forensics- End-to-end digital case management for forensic labs
4. MedLEaPR- Online medico-legal and post-mortem reporting by hospitals
5. e-Prison- Cloud-based national network for prison management
6. NAFIS- Centralized biometric database for real-time fingerprint matching

1. Nyaya Shruti Platform- Specialized video-conferencing portal launched under ICJS enabling accused persons, witnesses, investigating officers, and forensic experts to testify remotely.
2. e-Sakshya App- Secure mobile application for law enforcement agencies to capture, time-stamp, and upload digital evidence, ensuring chain-of-custody integrity for trial proceedings.
3. ITSSO Dashboard- Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences continuously monitors police investigation compliance against statutory timelines.

Next-Generation AI & Machine Learning Integration (Phase III Focus)

• Out of the Phase III budget, ₹53.57 crore is earmarked specifically for deploying AI and ML tools in High Courts through 2027-

1. Automated Scrutiny (IIT Madras Collaboration)- An AI tool that automatically scans e-filed petitions, flags defects, and extracts case metadata; currently integrated with the Supreme Court's ICMIS software.
2. LegRAA (Legal Research and Analysis Assistant)- AI-based research assistant aiding judges with precedent analysis and case-law mapping.
3. Digital Courts 2.1 Interface- Unified paperless dashboard for judges integrating voice-to-text
4.  dictation (ASR-SHRUTI) and real-time translation (PANINI).
5. Judicial Translation via eSCR- Translates judgments into 18 regional Indian languages via the National Informatics Centre; over 83,000 judgments translated (including 36,344 in Hindi) by early 2025.
6. Live Hearing Transcriptions- AI-driven real-time transcription tools used during Supreme Court Constitutional Bench proceedings.

Benefits for Key Stakeholders

Source: PIB