The Ministry of Law and Justice has launched an e-filing software which enables the litigants and registered lawyers to file cases online.
The facility, which was earlier available at only Supreme Court and four High Courts, have been extended to all the district and high courts.
The software allows to even e-sign the documents. It is expected that the new system will make the procedure of case filing transparent and manipulation free.
The software will also operate as an online gateway for payment of court fee and process fee.
This part of eCourts Mission Mode project. The major objectives of the project are to make whole judicial system ICT enabled by putting in place adequate and modern hardware and connectivity; automation of workflow management in all courts; electronic movement of records from taluka/trial to appeal courts; installation of video conferencing (VC) facility and recording of witness through Video Conferencing; connecting all courts in the country to the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) through WAN and additional redundant connectivity; citizen centric facilities such as electronic filing, e-payment and use of mobile applications in all courts; touch screen based kiosks in each court complex, full computerisation of State and district level judicial and service academies and centres.
There are 24 high courts and around 600 district courts in the country.
The judiciary is also sending SMSes and e-mails to litigants and advocates about progress made in the case—such as information about next date of hearing, adjournment, summons etc.
It was well appreciated that as per the data available on eTaal, number of electronic transactions, transacted under eCourts Project are very high and are amongst top five performers with number of electronic transactions being more than Rs 40 crores.