SC plans expansion of infra; e-Courts to offer national link

Source: The post is based on the article “SC plans expansion of infra; e-Courts to offer national link”  published in The Hindu on 16th August 2023.

What is the News?

The Chief Justice of India has announced a plan to expand the Supreme Court with 27 additional courts and 51 judges’ chambers. 

Currently, the Supreme Court has 17 courtrooms and two registrar courts. Its judicial strength is 32 now.

Judicial Infrastructure in India:

Judicial infrastructure broadly includes dimensions such as physical infrastructure (courtrooms, lawyers’ chambers, and residential accommodation for judicial officers and their support staff), digital infrastructure which includes video-conferencing devices and internet connectivity and Human resources.

Physical Infrastructure of Judiciary: According to data from the National Judicial Data Grid:

– The sanctioned strength of judges is 24,280.At present, however, there are only 20,143 court halls available, of which 620 are rented.

– Only 2% of the lower and subordinate courts provide tactile pathways for the visually impaired, 20% have guide maps and 45% have help desks. 

– Further, a large 68% of lower courts do not have dedicated rooms for record-keeping, and nearly half of them do not have a library.

According to an in-depth report by the legal think tank Vidhi, a majority of lower court complexes in Gujarat, Sikkim, and Tripura are not accessible through public transport.

Less than half of the district and subordinate courtrooms surveyed (40 percent or 266 out of 665 court complexes) had washrooms that were fully functioning. 

Digital Infrastructure: A 2021 survey by the CJI office found that nearly 72% of lower court complexes had digital display boards, and only 41% of them had a studio-based video conferencing (VC) facility. 

– The same survey found only 38 percent of lower court complexes had video linkages with jails and 14 percent had video linkages with medical officers.

The Vidhi survey found evidence of a digital divide among the country’s states and regions.For example, all lower court complexes in Chandigarh and Delhi had websites that were more helpful to users, compared to those of court complexes in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland.

Human Resources: According to India Justice Report (IJR) 2022, India has about 20,076 judges for a population of 1.4 billion, indicating a vacancy of 22 per cent among the sanctioned posts. Among high courts, there is a 30 per cent vacancy of judges.

What are the steps taken by the government to address judicial infrastructure?

Government of India has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for the Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary since 1993-94.

The current fund-sharing pattern of the scheme stands at 60:40 (Centre: State) and 90:10 for the eight northeastern and three Himalayan States. The Union Territories get 100% funding.

However, the funds allocated under this scheme are severely underutilized, since it was introduced. 

e-Courts project