The Project of establishment of eSewa Kendras at District Courts and High Courts was conceived and conceptualized by the Surinder S. Rathi, Former member eCommittee, Supreme Court of India with an objective of leveraging the accessibility of services provided by the eCommittee of Supreme Court under its eCourts related Project and is aimed at strengthening ‘Access to Justice for all’. The project was approved by Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, Chairman, eCommittee of Supreme Court of India.
The objective behind creation of eCommittee and drafting of National Policy of digitization of Indian Judiciary is to enhance judicial productivity both qualitatively and quantitatively as also make the justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost effective, transparent and accountable.
Objective:
With an aim to bring transparency and easy access to basic information pertaining to Judicial functioning and Trial of cases like access to cause-list, daily order sheets, next date of hearing, copy of judgments and orders pronounced by the Courts, SMS/email alerts and like, eCommittee designed and dedicated to the general public a highly interactive Websites which are providing around 40 Lakhs services per day.
It is, however, important to note that India is a vast multilingual country with majority of our population living in villages and small cities. They have no or limited access to IT Services. Such poor litigants are still facing hurdle in accessing the services provided by eCommittee through eCourts related Projects throughout India because most of our services are in English and these cannot be accessed without high-end smart phones or desktops and laptops.
Hence, a need was felt to provide a bridge between the judiciary and the lesser privileged section of our society who have not access to IT tools or are not acquainted with their usage.
Keeping in view the above goal, a concept of eSewaKendra has been envisaged to be established in each District Court Complex and High Court Complex throughout India.
Concept of e-Sewa Kendra
eCommittee under its flagship of eCourts Project created dedicated interfaces for Judicial Officers, Court Staff and Lawyers under CIS 3.2 for District Courts and CIS 1.0 for High Courts. Arrangements were made for accessing the Case Information System by way of the floating Judicial Service Centre (JSC) and Central Filing Centre (CFC).
The eSewa Kendra, as the name suggests, are dedicated to and are supposed to serve the common litigant as a one stop centre for all his/her Court related needs. In order to make it more visible, it is envisaged that it shall be strategically located right at the public entry gate accessed by litigants and shall provide every possible assistance to a litigant walking in.
Salient Features of e-Sewa Kendra
1. eSewa Kendra shall be operationalized in District Court Complexes and High Court Complexes.
2. eSewa Kendra shall be manned by one or two Officials of the Court Administration.
3. To assist such official, an empanelled DLSA or HCLSC Advocate and empanelled PLVs preferably from Law Schools/ shall be associated in the eSewa Kendras.
4. If available, Nayay Mitra from empanelled by Department of Justice, Ministry of Law may also be associated.
5. The eSewa Kendra shall function as the first line of contact between the litigants and judicial establishment for the purpose of accessing eCourts Project related Services.
6. The Official manning the eSewa Kendra shall keep a record of all visitors in a digital format.
7. The eSewa Kendra shall help the litigants in accessing the relevant information through technological means and shall also render help in physical form wherever required and to the extent feasible.
8. The eSewa Kendra shall also have readily available all the necessary details of the concerned Complex viz. Presiding Officer with Court Number and its location, administrative branches and sections, DLSA/HCLSC front office location and contact numbers and like.
9. The eSewa Kendra shall have IT hardware like computer, scanner apart from LAN connection with access to CIS 3.2 for District Courts and CIS 1.0 for High Courts. However, eSewa Kendra shall be paperless without any printer.
10. The eSewa Kendra shall have requisite information leaflets and other publicity material in English, Hindi/local languages in respect of services being provided by eCommittee under eCourts Project and method of accessing them.
11. The eSewa Kendra shall provide all services free of cost to litigants and needy Bar Members and shall also facilitate e-filing of petitions, pleadings, certified copies and like.
12. The eSewa Kendra can also have a self-help touch screen eKiosk for accessing the required information.
13. The staff, officials, PLV, DLSA/HCLSC Panel Lawyers shall provide all assistance in a polite friendly manner by conversing in local language.
14. The eSewa Kendra shall open at 9.00 AM or one hour before the Court opens whichever is earlier and shall remain open through the working hours on all working days.
15. The eSewa Kendra shall not only function in physical form in the Court Complex but may also have virtual presence in the District/High Court website so that a litigant/needy lawyer can get help even without visiting the Court Complex.
16. The eSewa Kendra can also have a dedicated landline/mobile/WhatsApp helpline number which can be used to provide necessary information to litigants and needy lawyers without necessity of physically visiting the Court.
Facilities to be provided in e-Sewa Kendra
1. Handling inquiries about case status, next date of hearing and other details.
2. Facilitate online Applications for certificate copies and other such filing.
3. Facilitate eFiling of petitions right from scanning of hardcopy petitions, appending eSignatures, uploading them into CIS and generation of filing number.
4. To assist in online purchase of eStamp papers/ePayments.
5. To help in apply and obtain Aadhaar based digital signature.
6. Publicize and assist in downloading the Mobile App of eCourts for Android and IOS.
7. Facilitate in booking of eMulakat appointment for meeting relatives locked in Jail.
8. Handling queries about Judges on leave.
9. Handling queries about the location of the particular Court, its cause-list and whether the case is taken up for hearing or not.
10. Guide people on how to avail free legal services from District Legal Service Authority, High Court Legal Service Committee and Supreme Court Legal Service Committee.
11. Facilitate disposal of traffic challan in virtual Courts as also online compounding of traffic challans and other petty offences.
12. All other queries and assistance in respect of facilities which are digitally available under eCourt Project.
13. Explain the method of arranging and holding a video conference court hearing.
14. Provide a soft copy of judicial orders/judgments via email, WhatsApp or any other available mode.
These services may be added subsequently to make the eSewa Kendra Litigant Friendly.
Message from Hon’ble Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud
eCommittee is of the firm belief that eSewa Kendra shall go a long way in leveraging the accessibility of eCourts related projects for litigants and Members of the Bar would strengthen and sub serve the ‘Access to Justice for all’ in a friendly and convenient manner.
