e-Courts Project: A Giant Leap by Indian Judiciary

Abstract

This paper enumerates the efforts made by the Supreme Court of India and proposes a road map of how the existing Information and Communication Tech- nology (ICT) can help Indian judiciary to evolve as more technology driven with increased transparency. The main drive behind the efforts made by the Supreme Court is through e-Courts project. The Government of India has unleashed huge amount of funds to enhance the rate of justice and reduce the piling up of huge number of cases in the courts in India. Various steps have been taken to utilize the power of the Internet to ease the life of the litigant and all the other stakeholders in the process. The efforts are specially targeted to help the poor. The e-Courts project has led to scanning, digitization and digital preservation of case records, enabling video-conferencing for courts and jails, etc. A major outcome of the e- Courts project is the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG). It provides an online, real time information on around 25 million pending cases in Indian courts are various levels. This paper also provides insights in the potential of ICT to be able to go far beyond than what is proposed in the e-Courts project. The e-Courts project has mainly provided a platform for the consolidation of the ICT infrastructure in the courts. In order to be able to use all this computing machinery efficiently, more services, beyond as envisaged in the e-Courts project have to be developed.