Context: Mounting pendency of cases from the Supreme Court to the lower courts has Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu worried as he expressed concern on the issue. Naidu also urged the government and the judiciary to ensure faster justice. He was addressing the Platinum Jubilee meet of Dr B.R. Ambedkar College of Law, Andhra University on the occasion of its 76th Foundation Day. Naidu underscored the need to make delivery of justice speedier and affordable. Citing adjournment of cases over long periods, he observed that justice was becoming costly and referred to the well-known proverb “justice delayed is justice denied”. In a significant statement, the Vice President remarked that Public Interest Litigations (PILs) should not become private interest litigations for personal, pecuniary and political interests. 
Existing hurdles in Judiciary
Pendency of cases in various courts

• As of August 2019, there are over 3.5 crore cases pending across the Supreme Court, the High Courts, and the subordinate courts.
• As a result of pendency, the number of under-trials in prison is more than double that of convicts.
• The Economic Survey of 2019-2020 has even dedicated a separate chapter to the pendency of tax cases and revenue cases. 

Underutilisation of existing infrastructure

• There are tribunals such as the Income Tax Tribunal that function only half-day most of the time. 
• In addition to that most courts are also closed for Christmas and summer vacations.
• Lack of accountability mechanism for assessing the Efficiency and Performance of judges.
• Vacancy of judges across courts in India has affected the functioning of the judiciary, particularly in relation to the disposal of cases.

High legal costs and complicated legal procedures

• Thousands of Indians cannot afford to go to court as legal costs are high and legal procedures are complicated.

Time required for settlement of cases often increases due to 

• Lawyers on both sides need to be physically present in court. 
• Cases are frequently adjourned due to various reasons.

Concept of Virtual Courts

• Virtual Courts is a concept aimed at eliminating the presence of litigants or lawyers in the court and adjudication of the case online.
• An e-court or Electronic Court means a location in which matters of law are adjudicated upon, in the presence of qualified Judge(s) and which has a well-developed technical infrastructure.
• The e-courts are different from the computerised courts which have been in place since the 1990s.
• The working of e-courts requires an Online environment and an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled infrastructure.
• This would be beneficial for both improving the court processes and rendering citizen-centric services.
• e-Courts are aimed to make legal processes easier and more user friendly.
• Litigants can view the status of their case online through various channels created for service delivery.
• Litigants can file the plaint electronically through e-Filing and also pay the Court Fees or Fine online through.

Advantages

• The expansion of E-courts will ensure easy access to justice at affordable courts to all sections of society.
• The experience of an e-court will be much more personalised and private as opposed to theatrics involving public-speech based system.
• The proliferation of e-courts will make litigation faster, given that required logistics are provided.
• In India, there is a massive backlog of cases in every court. As of April 2018, there were over three crore cases pending across the Supreme Court, the High Courts, and the subordinate courts (including district courts).
• The judiciary system in India with the help of e-courts can overcome the challenges and make the service delivery mechanism transparent and cost-efficient.
• The e-courts will also benefit the judicial system and will provide flexible retrieval of stored information. This will allow judges to view the proceedings of a previous case or to retrieve other important documents at the click of a button.
• Data sharing between different courts and various departments will also be made easy as everything would be available online under the integrated system.

Challenges

• In the present circumstances, the virtual courts may seem a necessity, however, it goes without saying that at present there are a whole lot of glitches and shortcomings in its execution.
• The e-filling process is riddled with endless complications.
• e-Courts will also prove to be cost-intensive as setting up state of the art e-courts will require the deployment of new-age technology.
• Hacking and cybersecurity: On the top of technology, cyber-security will be a huge concern too. The government has initiated remedial steps to address this problem and formulated the Cyber Security Strategy but it is more on the side of prescribed guidelines alone. The practical and actual implementation of the same remains to be seen.
• Infrastructure: Challenges can erupt due to insufficient infrastructure and non-availability of electricity and internet connectivity in most of the Talukas/villages.
• Electricity connection is a must along with internet connectivity and computers to ensure justice reaches every section equally.
• Maintaining e-courts record: The paralegal staff is not well equipped and trained to effectively handle document or record evidence, and make them readily accessible to the litigant, to the council as well as to the court.
• Other issues might involve the litigant’s lack of confidence in the process due to lack of proximity.

Suggestion

• To address the aforementioned challenges, the first and foremost step is to draw up a policy for encouraging the setting up of e-courts.
• It is critical to draw up a well-defined and pre-decided policy framework as it can help in laying a concrete roadmap and direction to the e-courts scheme of India.
• Another important step is the need to upgrade the present state of infrastructure.The government needs to identify and develop the infrastructure that would be required to support the e-court project.
• One aspect that needs to be focussed on is the deployment of a robust security system that provides secure access to case information for appropriate parties. The security of e-courts infrastructure and system is of paramount importance.
• Also, a user-friendly e-courts mechanism, which is simple and easily accessible by the common public will encourage litigants to use such facilities in India.
• The government must make dedicated efforts in the training of personnel to maintain all the e-data. These include maintaining proper records of e-file minute entries, notification, service, summons, warrants, bail orders, order copies, e-filing etc. for ready references.
• Conducting training sessions to familiarise the Judges with the e-courts framework and procedure can give a huge impetus to the successful running of e-courts.
• Creating awareness around e-courts through talks and seminars can help bring to light the facilities and the ease that e-courts can facilitate.
• As technology is here to stay, therefore, finding mechanisms to make it better will be the step in the right direction.

Road Ahead

• In India, a significant amount of time is spent in resolving disputes which has been the real bane of the Indian judiciary system. The e-courts project, if implemented, would go a long way in saving costs and time for the litigants.
• The present government is taking active steps to establish e-courts all over India. All these government efforts will result in providing quick and cost effective solutions to the litigants.
• The judiciary system in India with the help of e-courts can overcome the challenges and make the service delivery mechanism transparent and cost efficient.
• Further, the e-court project also requires the executive and the judiciary to reaffirm their resolve to support a speedy, efficient and quality justice delivery in the country. It is also important to discuss steps required to surmount the various challenges facing the justice system.