Department of Justice

National Mission for Justice Delivery

and Legal Reforms

Sectoral Innovation Council Meeting March 13, 2014

Goals of the National Mission

Increasing access to justice by reducing delays and arrears

Enhancing accountability through structural changes and by setting performance standards and improving capacities

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Five Strategic Initiatives

• Policy and Legislative changes

• Re-engineering Procedures & Alternative

Methods of Dispute Resolution

• Focus on Human Resource Development

• Leveraging ICT for better Justice Delivery

• Development of Infrastructure facilities for the

Subordinate Judiciary3

Legislative Changes

For structural reforms in judiciary following legislative proposals are before Parliament: • Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill •Judicial Appointments Commission Bill

• Bill to raise the retirement age of High Court Judges

Policy and Legislative Changes to reduce pendency in areas prone to

excessive litigation

Amendment in N.I. Act Recommendation of the Inter-ministerial Group finalized

⁻ Introduction of ADR⁻ Codification of Summary Procedure⁻ Encouragement of payment through e-mode

Motor Vehicle Act Administrative and Policy recourse for payment of

challans without taking recourse to litigation Alternative mechanism of victim compensation in motor

accident claims

Electricity Act Settlement of Disputes at pre-litigation stage in

LokAdalats5

Policy InitiativesState Litigation Policy

Litigation Policy - Notified by all States Transform Government into efficient and

responsible litigant Setup Empowered Committee to weed out

ineffective and infructuous cases Identification of litigation prone areas for taking

appropriate measures to resolve issues. Citizen Charter – time bound delivery of public

services Robust Grievance Redressal mechanism Arbitration clause in Government contracts 6

Re-engineering of Court Process

Court Management System (NCMS)

Constituted by the Supreme Court in consultation

with DOJ in May 2012

Sub-Committees to streamline the Court Processes

and Case Rules, Court Development Plan, National

Framework for Court Excellence, Human Resource

Development Strategy.

Reports of the sub-committees under

consideration of the Supreme Court.

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Re-engineering of Court Process: Process Service

CPC was amended to provide service through additional modes i.e. speed post/fax/courier/e-mail/SMS- emphasis on implementation

High Court Rules being amended Framing of standardised processes for effective delivery of

summons Registration of e-mail addresses and mobile phones for

process service

Recommendation made for improving process service Integration of Aadhar cards or electoral cards with a

database to be used for process service. Hand-held devices or mobile phones with GPS can be used

to tag the delivery location for making service of summons more effective and transparent.

Alternative Methods of Dispute Resolution

• Review of the Arbitration and Conciliation

Act by Law Commission of India

• ADR Centres/Lok Adalats

600 ADR Centres sanctioned under TFC grant

223 ADR Centres have been established

7,45,768 cases have been disposed of in ADR

centres

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Alternative Methods of Dispute Resolution (Contd.)

National Mega Lok Adalats First Mega Lok Adalat involving cases from

Supreme Court to Taluka Level Courts was held on

November 23, 2013.

71,78,178 cases have been disposed of by the

Mega Lok Adalat - (including 20,92,650 Pre-

litigation cases).

Next National Mega Lok Adalat has been notified to

be held on April 12th, 2014.

Focus on Human Resource Development

18000 posts of Judicial Officers / Judges in District & Subordinate Courts

1800 additional posts of Judicial Officers being created

In principle decision taken to increase the judge strength by 25% in High Courts

1549 vacancies in Subordinate Courts filled up under Pendency Reduction Drive

Capacity building of State Judicial Academies through action research on judicial reform 11

Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Subordinate

Judiciary

Centrally Sponsored Scheme Amount released to the State Governments:

2011-12: Rs. 595 Cr

2012-13: Rs. 708 Cr

2013-14(Till date): Rs. 851 Cr

Total Central expenditure on the scheme Rs. 3400

crore

Court Complexes Constructed/Upgraded- over 500

Residential Buildings Constructed- over 300 12

Leveraging ICT for Better Justice Delivery

• eCourts Mission Mode Project

13,277 courts have been computerised by 31st January,

2014.

• Online Services available to citizens, lawyers, litigants:

Cause list, Case Status, Orders/ Judgments

Video Conference Pilot Project underway

• National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)

Objectives

o Judicial Management Monitoring; Online Backup of Case Status

and to Provide Case Status access to stakeholders

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Model Courts

The concept of Model Court being developed on the following five principles:

Citizen Friendly services and lay-outEfficiency in terms of time and costDelivery of fair, just and high quality

judgementsReasonable certainty of commencement

and conclusion of proceedings Efficient Mechanism for prompt and

responsive redressal of citizens grievances

Important Issues under Consideration/Implementation of the

National Mission

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Audio-Video Recording of Court Proceedings

Review of Legal Framework for Promoting ADR

Court Development Plan

Legal Education Reforms

Bar Reforms

Emphasis on Training for Expeditious Disposal of Cases

Thank You