The vision for our justice system is to provide the people of India with a court system that fairly and impartially administers justice, efficiently resolves disputes, and ensures that the rule of law protects the rights of all. However, increasing case loads and complex court procedures have led to cases pending in courts. Many factors contribute to this pendency - shortage of judges, lack of basic infrastructure, the accepted practice of repeated adjournments in courts and a general lack of urgency. The Government has launched several initiatives, including providing support for better court infrastructure, ICT enablement of courts, encouraging increase in the strength of subordinate judiciary, recommending policy and legislative measures in the areas prone to excessive litigation and suggesting re-engineering of court procedures for quick disposal of cases, to achieve this vision.
About three hundred court buildings are expected to be completed by March, 2014 with Central Government funding support to State Governments through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for development of infrastructure. Against targeted computerization of 14,249 district & subordinate Courts under the eCourts Project March 2014, 13,227 courts have already been computerized by 31st December 2013. Services such as case filing, registration, cause-lists, daily proceedings and orders/judgments have been initiated in many of these courts. Along with the better availability of infrastructure facilities and ICT enablement of courts through these initiatives, States in consultation with respective High Courts have also taken necessary steps to increase the number of subordinate courts at district/taluka level to reduce the burden of cases on existing courts and improve justice delivery. They have also set up many fast track courts for trial of cases of rape.
A pilot National Judicial Data Grid has been launched in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra, to be available in all States shortly, to facilitate information and analysis of performance of all courts in the country, performance management of all judicial officers, and improved planning of the justice sector. In parallel, High Courts are undertaking an overhaul of court procedures through a process re-engineering exercise.
Special attention has been given by the Government to situation of the marginalized sections of society through two projects on Access to Justice, one in eight States in central India and another in the eight North Eastern States and Jammu and Kashmir. The first project has already created legal awareness in more than two million people and trained 7000 para-legal workers and 300 lawyers to provide free legal aid to them. Voice based information kiosks that provide information about laws and entitlements are being established in 25 locations each in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
As a result of a number of initiatives taken by the Government and Judiciary in the recent past, the increasing trend of pendency of cases in subordinate courts has been checked and older cases are being taken up for disposal on priority basis besides the cases relating to crime against women and children, senior citizen and other marginalized sections of society.
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