ICT Initiatives – High Court of Judicature at Allahabad

ICT Initiatives at High Court of Judicature at Allahabad and its bench at Lucknow

• Official Website of the Allahabad High Court has been developed inhouse. The Mail server, Application Server, Database server etc. have been installed at the premises of the Court.
• Online availability of Fresh and daily Cause List of cases: The list of all the fresh and listed cases containing the information relating to a case is published on day-to-day basis on the website.
• Online Judgment and Copying System: The software contains several modules to facilitate typing and publication of judgments online and issuance of authenticated copies of judgments to litigants and lawyers. Orders and judgments are also been uploaded on the NJDG. Digital signing of all the judgment/orders is to be started.
• Court wise Case Running Information System: Case information being taken up in a Court room is displayed to the lawyers/ litigants through official website and several Digital Display Boards installed at vantage points. SMS's and emails are also being sent to stakeholders.
• Online Case Status Enquiry System: The litigants/ counsel can get information relating to the status of cases from the website. Counsel may also get the details of their cases by Advocate Roll Number. Status of efiled cases may also be searched from the diary number of efiled case.
• Computerized Case Information Counter: Case related information are available at these counters on a nominal fee.
• Digitization of court records: One Crore decided case files containing approx. 50 Crore pages, are to be digitized in one year. Centre for Information Technology Building (7,943.44 Sq. Mtr.) has been established for the scanning and digitization work. At present, approximately 37.77 Lacs files consisting of more than 23.10 crores pages have been digitized.
• E-court/ e-filing/ e-stamping: e-Court and online case filing at Allahabad High Court and Lucknow Bench has been started on 19 August, 2017. The Allahabad High Court has started e-Court and online case filing system with three jurisdiction Company Petition, Civil Revision and Transfer Application initially. The collection of Court fee is being done through e-Stamping. At the start of pandemic period, efiling portal redesigned and facility to efiling of all type of cases applications/ caveat has been provided. Till date, 71,427 case files and 88412 various Applications have been efiled.
• Wi-fi: The entire campus of Allahabad High Court is now facilitated with high speed Wi-Fi netwo rk. The Wi-Fi facility shall make the process of transmitting and receiving alerts/ massages quick and reliable. The lawyers/ litigants may avail several technology driven services of Allahabad High Court on their Mobile Phones viz. list of fresh cases and daily cause list, Judgments, Court wise real time-based case running information, enquiry of status of cases etc.
• SMS facility: The bulk SMS facility to Lawyers/ litigants has been started to provide the following information:
  • Daily cause list of cases containing information relating to a case viz. Case no., date of listing, serial number, Court no. etc.
  • Customized/ personalized cause list, case status etc. to lawyers/ litigants. Further, the following information/ notification are also being sent to the Lawyer/ litigants through SMSs:
  • Details of cases viz. case type, case number, date of filing, date of listing, Court number etc.
  • Defects identified during reporting, if any, in case file viz. Court fee, lack of information/ document etc.
• Real time information of cases, notification on direction of Court etc.

On an average approximately 50 Lakhs SMSs are being sent to the Lawyers/ litigants annually.

• • Mobile Based Application: The Lawyer/ litigants can access following services on Mobile phones by using Android based application, without accessing the official website of the Allahabad High Court: Status of Fresh and daily Cause List of cases, Judgment, Court wise Case Running Information System/ Display Board, Case Status Enquiry, Day to day notifications/ notices etc.
  • An Android based application has been developed recently for the use of Lawyers of Allahabad High Court, to access their list of cases in a form of Case Diary on the Mobile Phones of such case(s) in which they linked their Advocate Roll ID as provided by the High Court.
• Vacancy Portal: The vacancies related to various Sections of the High Court is being published and monitored on the Court's website.
• Budget : Web-based service has been initiated for budget monitoring. The service caters the need of detailed information visualization with regard to budgeting. Data flow lined in the service includes grant of budget by Government/ Other Authority, its demand and allocation plus utilization of sanctioned figures.
• Uploading of digitized case files to Supreme Court's Server: Case files of Allahabad High Court required to be sent to the Supreme Court are now being scanned, indexed and uploaded on the server of the Supreme Court.
• Implementation of CIS (Case Information System) version 1.0: The High Court has successfully implemented CIS 1.0 at Allahabad High Court. CIS 1.0 has also been implemented at Lucknow Bench from 01.01.2022. All the Courts are functioning over CIS.
• Online Gate Pass: The facility of online gate pass system has been started from 9 July 2018 onwards. The module is being designed in such a way that a litigant may apply and can get online gate pass to make a visit to the Court room/ Chamber of advocate. The online gate pass can be downloaded into Mobile/ Tablet and has to be produces with original ID proof at the time of entrance. More than 96,386 e-gate passes have been issued till date.
• Installation of Digital Signage TV for Digital Display System: The existing analog based case display system has been replaced with the digital display system in new Court Building. Smart TVs' (Digital Signage) of 55” and 65” have been installed in the Court rooms, corridors of the Court area and at various places in the premises of the High Court. The installation of additional 24-25 nos. 65” smart TVs' in the corridors of the Old Court Building and Bar area is also completed and working properly.
• Installation of Justice Clock: The Justice Clock to display statistical data regarding institution, disposal, pendency etc. of cases at run time, has been installed at Allahabad High Court and is working properly since October, 2019. Justice Clock has also been published on the official website of the Court.
• Video Conferencing Facility for Counsels: The Ld. Counsels have been facilitated with video conferencing facility for appearance in their cases to minimize physical presence of Lawyers/ litigants in the Court room during Court proceeding, considering pandemic time of Covid-19. Cisco Webex software has been purchased for smooth functioning of virtual proceedings of Court at Allahabad and Its Bench at Lucknow.
• 340 HP202dw Laser Printer and 110 HP226dw Multi Function Printer have been purchased to provide to Hon’ble Judges and Offices at Allahabad and Lucknow Bench.
• One Single Phase 10KVA Online Numeric UPS with 4 hours backup have been purchased for replacement of old UPS.
• 200 Wacom Touch Panel, 200 Acer Desktop, 200 BPE 100VA LI UPS and 200 8-port Dlink make network switch have been purchased for display of efiled/ digitized cases at Allahabad and Lucknow.
• 45 Logitech C270 Webcam, 45 HP Multimedia Speaker and 20 8-port D-Link make network switch have been purchased for providing Video Conferencing facility
• 10 Cisco make servers (8 for Allahabad and 2 for Lucknow) have been purchased for upgradation of old servers at Allahabad and Lucknow.
• Mail Server Software has been upgraded to enhance support for more users. • Internet bandwidth has been upgraded to 600 Mbps to cater the need of Video Conferencing.
• Shifting of data/ applications on server/ SAN storage with Disaster Recovery Site (DR/DC) under digitization project at Allahabad and Lucknow Bench is under process.
• 500 Mbps (1:1) Business Service Leased Line for Internet facility has been purchased for supporting virtual Court Proceedings.
• 50,00,000 SMS Quota has been purchased from NICSI to send information to various stakeholders.
• Upgradation of LAN of old court building is under consideration.
• 45 nos. All-in-One Desktops have been purchased to be used by Hon’ble Judges.
• 1 no. 10 KVA Single Phase (11 HP Max FMI-240 minutes backup) UPS for supply of uninterrupted power to Court has been purchased along with purchasing of batteries for replacement in the UPSs installed at Allahabad and Lucknow.
• An inventory maintenance software for the use of Stationary Department has been developed.
• Purchase of 150 nos. Micro Desktops to be used in sections at Lucknow Bench is under process.

ICT Initiatives at District Courts

eServices for Judicial Officers - A web-based eservices module was developed for ensuring efficient, effective, and user-friendly web based integrated System/Services with the user tracking facility for the Serving Judicial Officers posted in the State. An Android app for the above e-Services have been developed by Office of CPC. This is first such android app for the e-Services for the Judicial Officers in the Country.

Services covered in e-Services module for Judicial Officers: -

1. Leave Module: Leave module containing the facility of handling different types of Leave Applications (Casual Leave, Station Leave, Earned Leave, Child Care Leave, Medical Leave, leave encashment etc) online, which is being processed at different level and necessary approval of Hon’ble Administrative Judge/Hon’ble Judge-in-Charge is made online.
2. Annual Confidential Remarks: Online filing of Self-Assessment pertaining to Annual Confidential Remarks is part of the above module. The SelfAssessment format for a particular assessment period shall be filled up by the concerned Judicial Officer. The ACR shall be recorded online by the District Judges/Competent Authority and is required to be submitted online.
3. Property Statement: Filing of Periodic Property Statement (Movable/immovable) shall be online by the Judicial Officers, which shall be forwarded through the above e-Services. Blank Application format for filing of periodic Property Statement is available online. The Property Statement of the concerned Judicial Officer is forwarded online by the District Judge through the above e Services module.
4. Other Services: A number of other e-Services (43 Numbers) are also provided in the module. These Services are Miscellaneous requests, Applications pertaining to the Higher Education, Passport/VISA or other communication with High Court by way of online Submission. Such Services are required to be made online by the Judicial Officers and necessary documents (digitally signed/Self attested) has to be attached online.
5. Monitoring Mechanism of the e services: Hon’ble Administrative Judge/Judge-in-charge shall be able to view/monitor the status of the pending application on clicking the Reports section shown on left bottom side pane.

DCEP (District Court Establishment Portal) - A comprehensive District Court Establishment Portal has been developed at Allahabad High Court for maintaining complete service records of all the District Court Employees. The portal covers district wise sanctioned strengths, working strengths and vacancies for all the direct recruitment, promotional, contractual and outsourced posts of employees for 75 District Courts, 75 Family Courts and 13 Commercial Courts of Uttar Pradesh. The DCEP portal contains almost all the Government Orders including Government Orders of pre 1900 A.D. period and also post bifurcation orders of Hon’ble High Court has been preserved on portal. The portal will assist the High Court in facilitating direct recruitment processes through its centralized recruitment program and it will assist the District Judges in facilitating the grant of promotions and ACP etc. To each employee working in the respective District establishment based on his number of years of experience on a post, in a cadre, promotional details, enquires initiated, punishments awarded, ACRs and ACPs etc.

DIMS (District Inventory Management System) – DIMS a Web-based inventory management system allows the user to entry of hardware details, categorization of hardware, hardware installation records, tracking of hardware etc.

CMS (Complaint Management System) – The Web-based complaint management system allows the user to lodging and monitor the complaints of Hardware, Network, WAN, Software, BSNL etc. Through CMS lodged complaint information send to the concerned department and officials so that complaint resolved fastly.

Virtual Court Traffic - Virtual Court established and functional at 10 District Courts and mapped with all the remaining 65 District Courts of Uttar Pradesh.

eSewa Kendra - The eSewa Kendra at all the District Courts of Uttar Pradesh have been e-inaugurated and functional from on 01st November 2021. All this 74 eSewa Kendra established in District Court with the available resources and infrastructure.

ePay Portal - Online Court Fees and Fine payment mode has been functional for District Courts of Uttar Pradesh through ePay Portal – eCourts Digital Payment.

NSTEP - NSTEP services started/ made functional in all the District Courts of Uttar Pradesh and CIS generated processes has been made compulsory for District Courts.

Land Record Integration - Land record integration with the Civil records made functional in all the District Courts of Uttar Pradesh.

Automated Generation of Register - Manual generation of Civil and Criminal registers stopped and System based registers generation has been made compulsory for District Courts.

Video Conferencing - District Courts and Jails are equipped with studio-based Video Conferencing (VC) facility. Desktop based Video Conferencing has also been made functional in Court complex and Jails. The above infrastructure is being utilized for running of Virtual Courts through video conferencing during Covid-19 pandemic situation.

SMS Services – All the District Courts, Railway Court, Outlying Court and Gram Nyaylay provided with SMS module facility.

Physical verification software – Physical verification of court files with file tracking support software is developed and is in testing phase for District Courts of Uttar Pradesh.

source : e-Committee, Supreme Court of India