Context: Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud announced that the Supreme Court is now “onboard” the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) portal, a national repository of data relating to cases instituted, pending and disposed of by courts across the country.
National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)
NJDG is a database of orders, judgments and case details of District & Subordinate Courts and High Courts created as an online platform under the eCourts Project. The NJDG was developed by the National Informatics Centre in collaboration with the Supreme Court’s in-house software development team. It features an interactive interface and analytics dashboard to facilitate data analysis and reporting.
Features of NJDG
- Data is updated on a near real-time basis by the connected District and Taluka courts.
- It provides data relating to judicial proceedings/decisions of all computerized district and subordinate courts of the country.
- All High Courts have joined the NJDG through web services, providing easy access facility to the litigant public.
- Case data is available on NJDG for both civil and criminal cases with the ability to perform drill-down analysis based on the age of the case as well as the State and District.
Benefits of NJDG
- Identification and Managemnt: NJDG works as a monitoring tool to identify, manage & reduce pendency of cases.
- Inputs in Policy making: It helps to provide timely inputs for making policy decisions to reduce delays in disposing of cases and helps in reducing case pendency.
- Performance Analysis: It also facilitates better monitoring of court performance and systemic bottlenecks, and, thus, serves as an efficient resource management tool.
- Improvement in Enforcement of Contract: World Bank praised the National Judicial Data Grid in the Ease of Doing Business report for 2018, that it made possible to generate case management reports, thereby making it easier to enforce contracts.
- Easy Access to Government: Open Application Programming Interface (API) has been provided to the Central & State Government to allow easy access to the NJDG data using a departmental ID and access key.
- Future Prospect: Right now grid allows the institutional litigants to access the NJDG data for their evaluation and monitoring purposes. It is proposed to expand the facility to non-institutional litigants as well in future.
- Inclusion of Reason for Delay: Recently, giving reasons for delay have been included in NJDG.
- The inclusion of feature specifying the reasons for delay on the NJDG portal keep a proper track on issues which the judiciary faces while adjudicating cases and consequently enables them and the decision makers to take various steps in the direction of redressing the burgeoning pendency of cases.
- Apart from that, individual reason for delay highlights the problems at a granular level, which otherwise would be cumbersome to be tracked upon and thereby remedied.
eCourt Project
The Government has launched the eCourts Integrated Mission Mode Project in the country for computerization of District and subordinate courts with the objective of improving access to justice using technology. As part of the National eGovernance Plan, the project is under implementation since 2007 for ICT development of the Indian Judiciary based on the “National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology in the Indian Judiciary”. eCourts project is being implemented in association with e-Committee Supreme Court of India and Department of Justice.
3-Phases
Phase I of the project was implemented during 2011-2015. Phase II of the project started in 2015-2023. In Phase 3, the system will be migrated to cloud technology and the cost estimated for providing 25 petabytes (according to existing requirements) of cloud storage is ₹1,205.20 crore.
Benefits of integration of Supreme Court to NJDG
- Real-Time Access to Case Data:
- The NJDG now provides real-time data on the filing and disposal of cases in the Supreme Court.
- This data is readily accessible to the public, making it easier for citizens to track the status of cases and access relevant information.
- Open Data Policy: The decision to include Supreme Court case data on the NJDG is in line with an ‘open data policy,’ ensuring transparency and accessibility of judicial information to the public.
- Coordination and Informed Decision-Making:
- Onboarding the NJDG will enhance coordination within the judiciary and enable informed decision-making.
- Judges and court officials can access up-to-date information about the institution, disposal, and pendency of cases, categorized by type, year, stage, and quorum.
- Optimum Resource Deployment:
- The NJDG facilitates the optimum deployment of judicial resources and manpower.
- This means that resources can be allocated more efficiently to address the backlog of cases and manage the workload effectively.
- Single Source of Data and Consistency:
- The NJDG serves as a single repository for data related to cases instituted, pending, and disposed of by courts across the country.
- This centralized data source streamlines access to information and ensures data consistency.
- Research Opportunities:
- The NJDG offers a valuable resource for high-quality research work within the judiciary.
- Researchers and legal scholars can use this data to analyze trends, study case outcomes, and gain insights into the functioning of the Indian judicial system.
- Pendency and Case Statistics:
- The NJDG-SCI portal provides information on the current pendency of civil and criminal cases in the Supreme Court, as well as details about cases filed and disposed of in the previous month.
- It also breaks down pending cases by the number of judges on each bench.
- Access for the Common Man:
- Real-time data on the Supreme Court’s case proceedings becomes readily accessible to the common man.
- This transparency empowers citizens to track the status of cases, enhancing their understanding of the legal system.
With the Supreme Court’s participation, the NJDG now includes all three tiers of the Indian judiciary, completing a significant aspect of the e-courts project which also aligns with the Indian government’s “ease of doing business” initiative.
