CJI launches e-Filing, e-Pay, and NSTEP applications to facilitate litigants and lawyers

e-Filing application

• The e-Filing application is available at efiling.ecourts.gov.in.
• The application is meant for online registration of lawyers and litigants.
• Through the application, one can file cases from any part of India to any court on registration.
• Portfolio management of cases of litigants and lawyers is provided on the portal and one can get updates from time to time about filed cases, cases under objection or rejected cases.
• The facility of e-Sign is provided on the application for those who cannot afford to purchase token for making digital signatures.

Significance

• The e-Filing application will facilitate efficient administration of Judicial System by easing pressure on filing counters and will speed up work flow processing.
• Data entry will be more accurate which will help to take data driven decisions in court administration.
• It will start building digital repositories which will auto generate paper books and can be quickly transmitted to Higher Courts which will reduce delays.
• It will help reduce touch point of litigants will also result in more productivity of staff members and will help send documents for service to other locations or mail addresses which will be relatively easy.

eCourts project Phase I

• eCourts Project is a collaboration between Case Information Software (CIS), Web portal and Mobile Application.
• The eCourts Mission Mode Project Phase I was implemented during 2011 - 2015; wherein Rs 639.41 crore was released for computerisation of district and subordinate courts.
• At the end of Phase-I, sites for all 14249 courts were made ready for computerisation, LAN was installed at 13643 courts, hardware was provided in 13436 courts and software was installed in 13672 courts.
• Laptops were provided to 14309 judicial officers and change management exercise was completed in all the High Courts.
• Over 14000 Judicial Officers were trained in the use of UBUNTU-Linux Operating System and more than 4000 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.

eCourts project Phase II

• The eCourts project Phase II is being implemented by the Department of Justice during 2015-19 under the guidance of eCommittee of the Supreme Court of India for Information and communication technology (ICT) enablement of all district and subordinate courts in the country.
• Under the Phase II, Rs 1078 crores has been released till date, against the financial outlay of Rs1670 crores.
• Computerisation of 16089 district and subordinate courts has been completed.

The eCourts project plays an important role in enabling Ease of Doing Business in the country through automation and technology enablement leading to generation of reports, and putting electronic case management tools in place for use by judges and lawyers.