The e-Courts Mission Mode Project has fundamentally transformed India's judiciary from a paper-based system to a digitally enabled justice delivery system serving over a billion people. Since 2014, both case filings and disposals have nearly tripled, with courts consistently disposing more cases than are filed annually. The project has digitized over 753 crore pages of court records and established thousands of e-Sewa Kendras to bridge the digital divide.
Project Phases and Achievements
The project launched in 2007 with Phase I (2011-2015) computerizing over 14,000 courts and building basic network infrastructure. Phase II (2015-2023) introduced citizen-centric services including the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), eFiling, and eSewaKendras while expanding video conferencing infrastructure more than fivefold. Phase III (2023-2027) focuses on transitioning to paperless, intelligent courts through large-scale digitization, virtual hearings, and emerging technologies like AI and OCR.
Key achievements include 1,806 fully functional eSewa Kendras established across court complexes, 474 courts equipped with paperless infrastructure, 538 courts with virtual court infrastructure, and 4,519 courts implementing e-filing. Video conferencing facilities have been expanded to 7,553 establishments including courts, jails and hospitals, with over 4.18 crore remote hearings conducted nationwide. Solar facilities ensure seamless ICT availability at 1,626 court complexes, while 6,895 courts have NSTEP facility and 734 court sites migrated to S3WAAS platform.
Digital Services and Infrastructure
The National Judicial Data Grid provides real-time transparency through three dedicated dashboards for Supreme Court, High Courts and District Courts, tracking pending and disposed cases by category and stage of proceedings. The e-Filing system has processed over 1.25 crore cases since inception until June 30, 2026, with e-payments processing ₹1,404 crore in court fees and ₹75 crore in fines.
Video conferencing infrastructure enables remote participation in hearings, with livestreaming operational in 11 High Courts. Thirty-one Virtual Courts have been established for online adjudication of traffic challans, receiving 11.33 crore challans amounting to ₹1,135.79 crores. The Nyaya Shruti platform, launched in 2024, enables virtual testimony through video conferencing.
Integrated Justice System
The Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) connects the entire criminal justice chain, enabling seamless data transfer among courts, police, jails, forensic labs and prosecution. Integrated systems include CCTNS for computerizing police processes, ITSSO for tracking sexual offence investigations, e-Sakshya for digital evidence management, e-Summons for electronic summons, MedLEaPR for medico-legal reporting, e-Forensic for lab case handling, e-Prison for prisoner management, e-Prosecution for digital workflow, and NAFIS for fingerprint matching.
Digital Tracking and Access
Digital platforms enable seamless tracking of judicial business through daily SMSs (over 4 lakh) and emails (6 lakh), with the multilingual e-Courts services portal recording about 35 lakh hits daily. The e-Courts Services mobile app has 3.84 crore downloads providing case status information, while the JustIS app (22,594 downloads) assists judges in managing judicial business. NSTEP provides GPS-tracked delivery of summons and notices.
AI and Future Developments
Phase III includes AI and Machine Learning initiatives with ₹53.57 crore allocated from the total ₹7,210 crore outlay. Pilot programs include AI tools transcribing oral arguments in Constitutional Bench matters, LegRAA for legal research assistance, Digital Courts 2.1 for paperless case management, and voice-to-text (ASR-SHRUTI) and translation (PANINI) tools. Judgments are being translated into 18 Indian languages through the eSCR portal, with over 83,000 translated including 36,344 into Hindi as of March 2025. An AI tool developed with IIT Madras automatically flags defects in e-filed petitions, with prototype access granted to 200 Advocates-on-Record.