Status of eCourt Project

Creation of Computer S e r v e r Room at all the complexes / Site Preparation: – A dedicated area for housing the servers and other related ICT equipment’s (Computer Server Room / CSR) has been set up at each subordinate court complex. This also serves as the Judicial Service Centre, a citizen service interface counter for provision of various services such as case filing, status enquiry, etc. at the court complex. Funds are provided to 30 new court locations and 5 existing court locations for site preparation.

At present there are 79 locations (37 District courts & 42 Sub-divisional courts) in Bihar where court is running.
Site Preparation is completed at 69 locations out of 79 locations.
In context of Court Complexes: – Site preparation is completed in 80 court complexes out of 90 court complexes

LAN (Local Area Network) installation at new court complexes and up gradation of existing LAN infrastructure: – Previously only 41 locations are covered under eCourt Project Phase-I but now it has been increased to 79 locations including 37 district courts and 42 Sub-divisional Courts.

LAN is installed in 37 districts and 18 Sub-divisional courts.
In context of Courts rooms: – sanctioned court rooms – 1338
LAN installed (Passive and Active Components) – 1352 courts

Provision of Computer Server: – The purchase order of 150 Computer Server was issued for 75 locations and the same has been delivered and installed at all locations under the Phase-II.

(150 units Tower Server Purchased from Saved Fund which is approved for appropriation for this purpose, and SAN server purchased from State Govt. Fund. Further, the matter for purchasing of rest Servers will be referred before Hon’ble computer committee of this court for consideration.

CIS Software:- At present, 37 District Courts and 42 Sub-Divisional Courts of Bihar have been computerized in terms of CIS 3.2 installation.

Provision of Desktop Computers, UPS, and Printers: – 4924 units of Desktop Computers, 3276 units of UPS 600Va for desktop computers and 1025 units of Printers have been provided to sub-ordinate courts of Bihar and all the equipment are installed and in use to meet the day-to-day progress of the e-courts work.

AMC for laptops of judicial officers:- Annual maintenance contract has been given to agency for repairing/maintaining the laptops of judicial officers which was given to them in year 2015.

Provision of Connectivity, Wide Area Network implementation status in district courts of Bihar and Data on NJDG: – Previously, VpnoBB Connectivity is available at only 37 locations which has been extended to 2 more locations, hence in total 39 locations are connected. The WAN connectivity is to be implemented by BSNL by the order of Department of Justice (DOJ), New Delhi for which 77 locations have been identified and WAN is also commissioned at 77 locations. Further, a request has been sent to DOJ, New Delhi to add Sonepur (Saran at Chapra) for providing WAN connectivity.

At present, the CIS data is replicated on NJDG (National Judicial Data Grid) for all the 79 Locations

(Including 37 District Courts & 42 Sub-Divisional Courts).

SMS Push service for litigants and advocates are functional at 76 locations.

District Court information on official website: – All District Court Website have been migrated from Drupal version 6 to Drupal version 7.59. This will enable others to cater information of district courts such as Judicial Officer’s name, contact number, recruitment details, notices, tender details, judges on leave and other relevant information.

Information kiosks at each court complex:- The Policy Document proposes installation of touch-screen kiosks at all Court Complexes. These kiosks will provide services such as case status and daily order sheets to litigants without having to approach court officials. T h e KIOSK machine has been supplied to all 37 District Courts and installation is completed in all the judgeship except Sheohar.

Display Board at each court in Subordinate Courts of Bihar:- The Policy Document proposes installation of Display Board screen (Monitor) at subordinate courts of Bihar. These Display Board will provide services such as case status running in the courts of the Judicial Officer such as which case if current heard by judicial officer, pass over cases and upcoming cases thus the accordingly Display Board with extra monitor and thin client machine has been supplied to all 1025 Courts and installation of them is completed at all 75 locations.

Provision for Power Backup for ICT equipment:- For sustainability and safety Of ICT equipment we need Power Backup for which D.G Set and 2kva online UPS for Network Room has been provided to all 75 locations.

Further installation of D.G Set has been completed for 75 locations and installation of 2kva online UPS for Network Room is also completed at all 75 locations.

ICT Training for Judges & court Staff for Capacity building:- ICT training had been planned to be imparted to judicial officers and court staff with an aim to make them familiar and proficient in the use of ICT tools, which is going on at regular intervals. As p a r t o f t h e C h a n ge M a n a g e m e n t exercise, Judicial Officers have been trained in the use of UBUNTU-Linux OS and court staff has also been trained in CIS software. Bihar Judicial academy has organized time to time refresher training program for Judicial Officers, Court staffs, DSAs, System Officers and System Assistants for such Capacity building. In addition to Officers and Staff, Bihar Judicial academy also organized awareness programme for Ld. Advocates on e-Court and its services.

Further, the training session has been also organized in Judgeship by Stock Holding Corporation of India for eCourt fee and e-Stamping and the same has been operational in almost all the District Courts including High

Court.

Technical Manpower: – We have deployed 1 Senior System Officer, 1 System Officer, 2 System Assistant in High Court, 1 System Officer, 2 System Assistant in each District headquarters and 1 System Assistant in each sub-divisional court for maintenance of computerization under e-Courts project.

Video Conferencing:-

Facilities in courts and jails: Presently point to point video Conferencing facility is available in 37 District Courts and 16 Sub Divisional Courts comprising 53 Court locations provided by State Govt.
Studio Based VC: “Studio Courts” made functional in Patna High Court. The facility extended to District Courts as well, with two “studio courts” in each District and one in each sub-division.
Web Based VC: MPLS connectivity with Broadband facility has been provided by BSNL as primary connection and by Airtel as secondary connection. MPLS connectivity with speed of 8Mbps to 34 Mbps has been provided to the each court of the District.
VC Apps: “Microsoft Teams” software has been provided to all the Judicial Officers of the Bihar for e-hearing of proceedings through video conferencing in view of Covid-19 Pandemic situation.

Solar energy for power backup:- The UPS and DG sets for servers and judicial service centers have been installed in Phase I and Phase-II of the project, but there is no provision of power back-up for thin clients, printers and other hardware. In this regard, the Policy Document proposes to utilize solar energy, as an alternate source, being environment friendly and easily available. It is proposed to initially cover 5% of the total court complexes, thus we started working on it and total 38 judgeships selected for installation of Roof Top Solar Panel. As per the report received from BREDA installation work is completed at 31 locations and at 4 locations work is under process. Further for 3 locations, fund is not allotted to BREDA by State Govt.

Installation of CCTV Camera in Court Rooms and Court Premises for security purpose:- State Govt. has issued a work order to Beltron for installing CCTV camera in the Court Rooms and Court Premises of the Sub-Ordinate Courts of the Bihar. As of now, CCTV camera is installed & functional in Court Rooms at 68 locations out of 79 locations and for security purpose it has been also installed at 67 location out of 79 locations.

Status of e-filing, e-payment, NSTEP , ICJS, e-Sewa Kendra and Delay Reasons(On NJDG)

e-filing	NSTEP	ICJS	e-Payment	e-Sea Kendra	Delay Reasons
Implemented in Hon’ble High Court.	Implemented in District Court	Implemented in District Court	e-payment for Court Fee has been Implemented for Hon’ble High Court and District Court.	Established at Patna High Court, Patna Civil Court, Bettiah (West Champaran), Siwan Civil Court, Vaishali Civil Court, Nalanda Civil Court and Bedauli, Lakhnaur Panchayat (Masaurhi).	Delay reason in pending cases (more than 2 year) for District Courts has been completed about 96% on the NJDG site

Order/Judgements on NJDG:- Total 1329036 Orders of Sub-ordinate Courts of Bihar have been uploaded on NJDG.

CIS on Cloud:- Tested successfully for Gaya District.

Updation of Judicial Officer’s details on NJDG:- The Hon’ble eCommittee, Supreme Court of India started SMS facility for Judicial Officers to know how many cases are being undated (Those cases having Next Listing Date less than Current date) in their courts on daily basis, for that purpose it is necessary to enter and update the details of Judicial Officers on NJDG, the same has been entered by us.

Further, All the Judicial Officers have boarded on JustIS and GIMS App, which provide the latest status of their court’s data like today’s cases, pending cases, undated cases , disposal cases etc. from NJDG.

eCourt service publicity and awareness: – eCourt services publicity and awareness posters are circulated to sub-ordinate courts of bihar for increasing awareness among litigants, advocates and other stakeholders as per the direction of Hon’ble eCommittee, Supreme Court of India and the same are pasted by districts on the walls of court complexes.

Backlog Data Entry:- For the efficient implementation of eCourt project and delivery of Citizen Centric Services through CIS software it is necessary to enter and update all the cases in CIS. In order to achieve the same, backlog cases Data entry has been completed for most of the locations.

eCourt Citizen Centric Services delivered by District Courts of Bihar:- eCourt project provides many kind of services to litigants, Lawyers and other stakeholders via SMS, email, Web pages, Kiosk Machine at court premises, and online Display Board placed beside the Court rooms of Judicial Officer. Some of the services listed here.

Pull SMS service.
Online Case Status.
Kiosk Machine at court Premises.
Online Cause list.
Automated Email service.
Advance Cause list.
Order/Judgment available on NJDG.
Find the case status via Android app launched by Hon’ble
eCommittee Supreme Court of
District Court website.
Online Status of Running cases via Display board places there after Court Rooms of Judicial Officer in subordinate courts of Bihar.
Find the Court Complex locations with address details via Android app.
A awareness program to Litigant/people/advocates about the NJDG and eCourt Services is initiated in subordinates courts of Bihar with the help of posters and gestures, and SMS pull services on the direction of Hon’ble eCommittee of

Supreme Court of India.

SMS pull service Ecourt<space><CNR Number> To 9766899899

Sustainability of the project:- Memorandum of understanding (MoU) under E-Courts project has been signed by the Central Government, State Government and Patna High Court. The State Government of Bihar is assisting financially by providing fund under E-Court MMP project to the High Court and District Courts in financial year for sustainability of the project.