Year End Review: Department of Justice

Year End Review: Department of Justice

Part of: Prelims 

• 120 Judges and 63 Additional judges appointed in high courts
• Tele-Law Services, to promote increased access to pre- litigation advice for rightfully claiming their entitlements and timely redressal of their difficulties, is available at 75,000 CSCs/Gram Panchayats in 699 Districts; 12,70,135 total cases registered, of which advice has been enabled to 12,50,911 beneficiaries
• The e-Court Integrated Mission Mode Project was launched with the objective of improving access to justice using technology. Using Video Conferencing, the District and High Court have heard nearly 1.65 Crore cases and the Supreme Court had nearly 1.5 lakh hearings making it the world leader
• Citizen Centric Services are provided through 7 platforms or service delivery channels for providing real time information on cases status, cause lists, judgements etc. to lawyers/litigants
• 683 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) including 383 exclusive POCSO (e-POCSO) Courts have disposed of 68120 cases in 2021 – to provide speedy justice to the victims of rape and POCSO Act through expeditious disposal of related cases.
• Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary extended till 2025-26
• National Legal Services Authority (NALSA): Launched a Legal Services Mobile Application, wherein all the services provided by Legal Services Authorities can be availed through the said mobile application. 
• A Gram Nyayalaya online portal has also been created, wherein the states/High courts upload data relating to Gram Nyayalayas, including case disposal, on monthly basis.
• National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms focuses on improvement of administration of justice and justice delivery and legal reforms in the entire country and to address the diverse needs of all sections of stakeholders. Its objectives are two-fold:
  • Increasing access by reducing delays and arrears in the system, and
  • Enhancing accountability through structural changes and by setting performance standards and capacities
• The Rule of Law Index is developed and published by World Justice Project (WJP). ROLI 2021 covers 139 countries and ranks them based on the country-specific data collected across 8 factors and 44 sub-factors. As per the latest report, India’s current rank in ROLI is 79 out of 139 countries assessed by the WJP.  

News Source: PIB