e-Courts Project: Government Details Funding, Digitisation and Virtual Courts Rollout in Parliament

The Union Government on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that more than Rs. 3,600 crore has been released under Phase II and Phase III of the e-Courts Project to strengthen digital infrastructure across the Indian judiciary, with digitisation of court records, virtual courts, video conferencing, and paperless functioning forming the core objectives of the ongoing reforms.

Responding to an unstarred question raised by Member of Parliament A. A. Rahim, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal placed on record detailed data on funding, implementation status, and outcomes of the e-Courts Mission Mode Project, including High Court-wise and year-wise allocations, digitisation progress, and use of virtual courts and video conferencing facilities

The Minister stated that Phase I of the e-Courts Project, implemented between 2011 and 2015, focused primarily on basic computerisation and internal connectivity in courts. As a result, 14,249 courts were computerised and Local Area Network connectivity was installed in 13,683 courts. Phase II, implemented between 2015 and 2023, shifted focus to Information and Communication Technology-enabled services for citizens, including hardware upgrades, WAN connectivity, training of stakeholders, establishment of e-Seva Kendras, and development of core judicial software systems.

According to the data furnished, a total of Rs. 1,164.37 crore was released directly to High Courts under Phase II of the project between 2015-16 and 2021-22. In addition, Rs.180.57 crore was released to the National Informatics Centre for technical support, Rs. 293.68 crore to BSNL for Wide Area Network connectivity, Rs. 13.50 crore to the e-Committee of the Supreme Court of India for change management, and Rs. 16.31 crore towards miscellaneous expenditure such as salaries, office expenses, and publicity.

High Courts that received the highest cumulative allocations under Phase II included the Bombay High Court at Rs. 125.24 crore, Allahabad High Court at Rs. 109.48 crore, Rajasthan High Court at Rs. 74.56 crore, Madhya Pradesh High Court at Rs. 74.05 crore, Gujarat High Court at Rs. 72.82 crore, and Madras High Court at Rs. 70.15 crore.

With the commencement of Phase III, which focuses on end-to-end digitisation and paperless courts, the government has substantially increased funding.

The Minister informed the House that Rs. 611.88 crore was released in 2023-24, Rs. 997.49 crore in 2024-25, and Rs. 864.43 crore in 2025-26 as on February 2, 2026, amounting to over Rs. 2,470 crore released to High Courts under Phase III so far. Additional releases under Phase III include Rs. 185.06 crore to NIC for technical support, Rs. 54.79 crore to BSNL for WAN connectivity, Rs. 17.51 crore to the e-Committee of the Supreme Court, Rs. 0.28 crore to IIT Madras for development of an e-learning platform, and Rs. 9.42 crore towards miscellaneous expenditure.

The government emphasised that digitisation of court records is a central focus of Phase III.

As per the Detailed Project Report, only 5.9 percent of legacy judicial records had been digitised prior to Phase III by 21 High Courts. To address this gap, infrastructure has been approved for scanning and digitisation of approximately 3,100 crore documents, including both legacy and current records.

A Digital Preservation Standard Operating Procedure has also been prepared to regulate scanning, storage, retrieval, and long-term preservation of judicial records.

Data placed before Parliament shows that as of December 31, 2025, over 236.96 crore pages had been digitised in High Courts and more than 400.89 crore pages in district courts across the country. High volumes of digitisation were reported from courts in Allahabad, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Telangana, among others.

The Minister further informed that the transition towards paperless courts is being facilitated through customised software applications, including Digital Courts 2.1, developed by the Centre of Excellence for e-Courts at NIC, Pune.

The application allows judges to access pleadings, evidence, and case records digitally, with facilities for translation and transcription using artificial intelligence.

On virtual courts, the government disclosed that as of December 31, 2025, nearly 9.81 crore challans had been processed through virtual courts across States and Union Territories, resulting in collection of more than Rs. 973.25 crore.

Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Haryana were among the jurisdictions with high volumes of virtual challan processing and revenue collection.

The Minister also shared data on the use of video conferencing in courts, stating that nearly 97.89 lakh cases were heard via video conferencing in High Courts and over 2.95 crore cases in district courts till December 31, 2025.

Courts in Madras, Telangana, Karnataka, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, and Allahabad recorded some of the highest numbers of cases heard through virtual mode.

Addressing concerns regarding uneven implementation across States, the government stated that periodic reviews are conducted in coordination with High Courts and the e-Committee of the Supreme Court of India. Steps being taken to ensure uniform digital access to justice include financial and technical support, capacity-building initiatives, standardisation of platforms, and strengthening of court infrastructure.

The Minister concluded that the e-Courts Project, through digitisation, virtual courts, e-filing, e-payments, and video conferencing, has already resulted in a significant reduction in physical paper usage across courts and continues to progress towards a fully digital and paperless judicial ecosystem.