report no. 96

PARLIAMENT OF INDIA

DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTAR

ON PERSONNEL PUBLIC

Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi

March

NINENTY

Demands for Grants (2018

the Ministry

(Presented to the Rajya Sabha on

(Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on

PARLIAMENT OF INDIA

RAJYA SABHA

RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE

ON PERSONNEL PUBLIC GRIEVANCES LAW AND JUSTICE


March, 2018 / Phalguna 1939 (Saka)

NINENTY-SIXTH REPORT

on

Demands for Grants (2018-2019) of

the Ministry of Law and Justice

Presented to the Rajya Sabha on 14th

March, 2018)

Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on 14th

March, 2018)

Y STANDING COMMITTEE

LAW AND JUSTICE

REPORT NO.

96

Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com)

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: http://rajyasabha.nic.in


PARLIAMENT OF INDIA

DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTAR

ON PERSONNEL,

Rajya

March, 2018

NINENTY

Demands for Grants (2018


(Presented to the Rajya Sabha on

(Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on

CS (P & L)

PARLIAMENT OF INDIA

RAJYA SABHA

RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE

ON PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES, LAW AND JUSTICE


March, 2018 / Phalguna 1939 (Saka)

NINENTY-SIXTH REPORT

on

Demands for Grants (2018-2019) of


Presented to the Rajya Sabha on 14th

March, 2018)

Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on 14th

March, 2018)

CS (P & L) - 191

Y STANDING COMMITTEE

LAW AND JUSTICE

2018)


ACRONYMS

ATFE Appellate Tribunal of Foreign Exchange

BCI Bar Council of India

CEO Chief Electoral Officer

CJI Chief Justice of India

CSS Centrally Sponsored Scheme

DEO District Election Officers

ECI Election Commission of India

ERO Electoral Registration Officer

EVM Electronic Voting Machine

ICADR International Centre for Alternate Dispute Resolution

ICT Information Communication Technology

ILI Indian Law Institute

ITAT Income Tax Appellate Tribunal

NALSA National Legal Services Authority

NITI National Institute for Transforming India

NJA National Judicial Academy

NJDG National Judicial Data Grid

MCC Model Code of Conduct

SOP Standard Operating Procedure

SVEEP Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation

UTRCs Under Trial Review Committees

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

VVPAT Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail


C O N T E N T S

PAGES

1. COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE (i)

2. INTRODUCTION (ii)

3. REPORT (i) CHAPTER - I BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE MINISTRY

(ii) CHAPTER – II

OVERVIEW OF THE BUDGET ALLOCATIONS FOR 2017-18

(iii) CHAPTER – III

DEMAND NO. 61 : LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

(iv) CHAPTER – IV

DEMAND NO. 62 : ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA

(v) CHAPTER – V

DEMAND NO. 61 : DEPARTMENT OF LEGAL AFFAIRS

(vi) CHAPTER – VI

DEMAND NO. 61 : DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

(vii) CHAPTER – VII

DEMAND NO. 63 : SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

4. RECOMMENDATIONS/OBSERVATIONS AT A GLANCE

*5. RELEVANT MINUTES OF THE MEETINGS OF THE COMMITTEE

___________________ *To be appended at printing stage.


COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE (Re-constituted on 1

st September, 2017)

1. Shri Bhupender Yadav Chairman

RAJYA SABHA

2. Shri Swapan Dasgupta

3. Shri Prabhat Jha

4. Shri Majeed Memon

5. Shrimati Rajani Patil

6. Shri D. Raja

7. Dr. K. Keshava Rao

8. Shri Sukhendu Sekhar Ray

9. *Shri Vivek K. Tankha

10. #Dr. Subramanian Swamy

LOK SABHA

11. Shri Tariq Anwar

12. Dr. Sanjeev Balyan

13. Shri Kalyan Banerjee

14. Shri Sharadkumar Maruti Bansode

15. Shri A.H. Khan Choudhury

16. Adv. Joice George

17. Shri Radadiya Vithalbhai Hansrajbhai

18. Shri Pralhad Joshi

19. Shri Mehboob Ali Kaiser

20. Adv. M. Udhaya Kumar

21. Shrimati Meenakashi Lekhi

22. Shri Bhagwant Mann

23. Shri B.V. Naik

24. Shri Vincent H. Pala

25. Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy

26. Dr. A. Sampath

27. Shri Ram Prasad Sarmah

28. Shri V. Panner Selvam

29. Shri Varaprasad Rao Velagapalli

30. Adv. Anshul Verma

31. @Vacant

SECRETARIAT

Shri P.P.K. Ramacharyulu, Additional Secretary

Shri K.P. Singh, Joint Secretary

Smt. Sunita Sekaran, Director

Shri Ashok K. Sahoo, Addl. Director

Smt. Chanderlekha Sharma, Under Secretary

* Nominated w.e.f. 30

th November, .2017 vice Shri Anand Sharma who resigned w.e.f. 10

th November, 2017.

@ Vacancy caused due to changed the nomination of Shri Santosh Kumar w.e.f. 3

rd November, 2017.

# Nominated w.e.f. 7th

March, .2018 vice Shri Tiruchi Siva who resigned w.e.f. 21st February, 2018.

(i)


INTRODUCTION

I, the Chairman of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on

Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, having been authorised by the Committee to

submit the Report on its behalf, do hereby present this Ninety-sixth Report on Demands for

Grants (2018-19) pertaining to the Ministry of Law and Justice.

2. In accordance with the constitutional requirement under Article 113, the estimated

expenditure of Ministries/Departments of Government of India projected under various

Demands for Grants for the upcoming financial year need to be voted by Parliament. As a

sequel thereto, Demands for Grants of the relevant Ministries/Departments stand referred to

concerned Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee to make a close scrutiny

thereof under Rule 270 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of

States. While making scrutiny of Demands for Grants, the Committee has made an appraisal

of performance, programme, policies of the Ministry of Law and Justice vis-à-vis expenditure

made out of Consolidated Fund of India in the current financial year.

3. In the Report, scrutiny of Demand Nos. 61, 62 and 63 pertaining to the Ministry of

Law & Justice, Election Commission of India (ECI) and Supreme Court of India,

respectively, for the financial year 2018-19 has been made by the Committee.

4. During the course of examination of the above Demands, the Committee heard the

views of the Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs; Secretary, Legislative Department;

Secretary, Department of Justice; Deputy Election Commissioners, Election Commission of

India; the Registrars, Supreme Court of India; Member-Secretary, Law Commission of India;

Registrar, Indian Law Institute; President, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Member-

Secretary, National Legal Services Authority and Registrar, National Judicial Academy in its

sitting held on the 23rd

February, 2018.

5. The Committee, while making its observations/recommendations, has mainly relied

upon the following:-

(i) Presentations made by the respective Secretaries of the three Departments of

the Ministry;

(ii) Presentations made by the heads of Organizations under administrative control

of the Ministry;

(iii) Detailed Demands for Grants of the Ministry, Election Commission of India

and Supreme Court of India for the year 2018-19;

(iv) Detailed Explanatory Notes on the Demands for Grants (2018-19) received

from the Ministry, Election Commission of India and Supreme Court of India;

(v) Annual Report of the Ministry for the year 2017-18 and the latest available

Annual Reports of the agencies/attached offices of the Ministry;

(vi) Written replies furnished by the Ministry and organizations/offices of the

Ministry to the Questionnaires sent by the Secretariat; and

(vii) Written clarifications to the points/issues raised by Members in the meeting of

the Committee.

6. The Report is based on facts, figures and submission (both oral and written) tendered

by Department/Institutions under the Ministry, to the Committee.

(ii)


7. The Committee considered and adopted the Report in its sitting held on the 13th

March, 2018 and presented to both Houses of Parliament on 14th

March, 2018.

8. For facility of reference and convenience, the observations and recommendations of

the Committee have been printed in bold letters in the body of the Report. New Delhi; BHUPENDER YADAV

13th

March, 2018 Chairman,

Department-related Parliamentary Standing

Committee on Personnel Public Grievances

Law and Justice

(iii)


1

R E P O R T CHAPTER - I

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE MINISTRY

INTRODUCTION

1. The Ministry of Law and Justice owes its origin to the Charter Act, 1833 enacted by

the British Parliament. In accordance with the Government of India (Allocation of Business)

Rules, 1961, the Ministry comprises three Departments, namely, Department of Legal

Affairs, Legislative Department and Department of Justice. The key mandate of the Ministry

is to provide policy support in administration of Justice; furnishing of legal advice to

Government of India and defend Government of India in various Courts and Tribunals and

draft Supreme and Subordinate legislations for Government of India, etc.

DEPARTMENT OF LEGAL AFFAIRS

1.1. The Department of Legal Affairs has a two-tier set-up, namely, the Main Secretariat

at New Delhi and Branch Secretariats at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru. The

Department tenders legal advice to all Ministries and Departments of Govt. of India. It

defends Govt. of India in all Courts and Tribunals where Govt. of India is a party. It appoints

Attorney General of India, Solicitor General of India, Additional Solicitor Generals of India

and Assistant Solicitor Generals of India. In addition, Govt. Counsel are also engaged to

defend Govt. of India in various courts across the country. It is responsible for maintenance

of standards of legal profession and legal education and is associated with legal reform also.

It is also responsible for appointment and renewal of Notaries across the country. Income Tax

Appellate Tribunal, Indian Legal Service and Law Commission of India are within the

administrative control of the Department. The Department has launched Legal Information

Management and Briefing System to monitor conduct of cases on behalf of Central

Government/Organisation/Departments etc its administrative control.

1.2. It inter-alia administers the Advocate Act, 1961, the Advocate Welfare Fund Act,

2001, the Notaries Act 1952 and the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. It has also taken

initiatives to improve India’s ranking in “Ease of Doing Business Report” (World Bank) by

strengthening contract enforcement and arbitration mechanism.


2

1.3. Following Institutions/organizations are under the overall supervision of the

Department of Legal Affairs:-

(a) Law Commission of India: - The Law Commission of India is a non-statutory

body, constituted by the Government once in three years. The present

Commission, the Twenty-first Law Commission of India, was constituted with

effect from 1st September, 2015 and will continue till 31st August, 2018. It is

headed by Dr. Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan and has two full-time Members,

one Member-Secretary, two Ex-officio Members and three part-time Members.

(b) Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT): - ITAT is one of the oldest

Tribunals, set up under Section 252 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 to hear appeals

against orders passed by authorities mentioned under Section 253 of the IT Act.

It has 63 Benches covering all cities having seat of High Courts.

(c) Bar Council of India (BCI): - The Bar Council of India is a statutory body

constituted under Section 4 of the Advocates Act, 1961, and it has been

empowered, among other things, to lay down standards of professional conduct

and etiquette for lawyers, and to maintain and improve the standards of legal

education in the country.

(d) International Centre for Alternate Dispute Resolution (ICADR):- The

International Centre for Alternate Dispute Resolution was registered under the

Societies Registration Act, 1860 on 31st May 1995. It is an autonomous

organisation working under the aegis of the Department.

(e) Indian Law Institute (ILI):- The Indian Law Institute is a premier legal

research institute founded on 27th December, 1956. The prime objective of the

Institute is to promote advanced studies and research in law and to contribute

substantially in reforming the administration of Justice, so as to meet the socio-

economic aspirations of the people through law and its instrumentalities. The

Institute has been granted Deemed University status in the year 2004.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

1.4. One of the primary responsibilities of the Legislative Department is to draft bills on

behalf of Ministries and Departments of Govt. of India. In addition, Ordinance promulgated

by the President of India, Regulation made by President of India for Union Territories,

Electoral Laws and Electoral reforms, maintenance of the updated Central Legislation since


3

1836 under Bharat Sanhita (India Code) and authoritative translation of Central Legislation

and Constitution of India under the Authoritative Text (Central Laws) Act 1973, Publication

and preparation of standard legal terminology, etc. are also assigned to the Department under

Allocation of Business Rules, 1961.

2. It inter-alia administers Personnel laws, Electoral laws, the Indian Contract Act,

1872, the Evidence Act, 1872, the Indian Trust Act, 1882, the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908,

the Limitation Act, 1963, the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Representation

of the People Act, 1951. It is also responsible for procurement of Electric Voting Machine

(EVM), Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and reimbursement of Election

expenditure of State Assemblies.

1.4. The Department has following two wings under it:-

(i) Official Languages Wing: The Official Languages Wing has been entrusted

with the preparation and publication of a standard legal terminology and for

translating in Hindi of Central Acts and Ordinances and Subordinate

legislation etc. under the Official Languages Act, 1963.

(ii) Vidhi Sahitya Prakashan: The Vidhi Sahitya Prakashan is mainly concerned

with bringing out authoritative Hindi versions of reportable judgements of the

Supreme Court and the High Courts, with the objective of promoting the

progressive use of Hindi in the legal field. It brings out various publications of

legal literature in Hindi and also holds exhibitions for giving wide publicity to

legal literatures available in Hindi and to promote their sales.

1.5. Election Commission of India: Election Commission of India is an autonomous

constitutional authority created under Article 324 of Constitution for superintendence,

direction, control of elections to Parliament, State legislatures, and to the offices of the

President and the Vice-President of India. The Election Commission of India is a multi-

member body (since 1993) headed by the Chief Election Commissioner, who acts as

Chairman of the Commission. The Commission is assisted by Deputy Election

Commissioners, Chief Electoral Officers (CEO), District Election Officers (DEO) and

Electoral Registration Officers (ERO), appointed by the Election Commission under

Representation of People Act, 1951. It recognizes/derecognizes political parties and allots

symbols to them. It also implements Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for smooth conduct of

free and fair elections. It also observes 25th January every year as National Voters' day to


4

encourage young electors to take part in election process. There is an exclusive demand

(Demand No. 62) under which budgetary allocation is sought for running the activities of

Election Commission of India.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

1.6. The mandate of Department of Justice entails administration of justice, legal aid and

advice to weaker sections of the society and undertrials in jails, access to justice for

marginalised section of society, appointment/removal of judges of Supreme Court and High

Courts, Family Courts, Gram Nayalayas, infrastructural development of judiciary and

modernization of court complex, Second Judicial Pay Commission, National Legal Services

Authority, E-Courts, Judicial Service Centres, maintenance of National Judicial Data Grid,

etc. The Department also launched three new initiatives to improve justice delivery system,

namely, Nyaya Mitra- to reduce pendency, Tele Law-providing legal aid through Common

Service Centres and Pro-Bono Legal Scheme- a web based platform through which lawyers

can volunteer pro-bono services for under-privileged clients. It inter-alia administers the

Gram Nayalaya Act, 2008, the Legal Services Act, 1987 and the Family Courts Act, 1984. It

also observes Legal Services Day on 9th December every year.

1.7. The following institutions/autonomous bodies/policy initiatives come under the

administrative control of the Department:

(a) Supreme Court of India:- The Supreme Court of India is the highest

constitutional court and also the final court of appeal. The Supreme Court of

India has a exclusive Demand (Demand. 63).

(b) National Legal Services Authority (NALSA):- The National Legal Services

Authority has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) is the patron-in-chief and second senior-most

judge of the Supreme Court is the Executive Chairman of the Authority.

NALSA monitors and evaluates implementation of legal aid programmes, and

lays down policies, principles, guidelines and frames effective and economical

schemes for the State Legal Services Authorities to implement the legal services

programmes throughout the country. The State Legal Services Authorities,

District Legal Services Authorities, Taluk Legal Services Committees, etc.

primarily discharge their functions by providing the following services

regularly:-


5

(i) Free Legal Services: It includes payment of court fee, process fee and all

other charges payable or incurred in connection with any legal

proceedings, providing service of lawyers in legal proceedings, etc.

(ii) Lok Adalats : Lok Adalat is one of the Alternative Disputes Resolution

Mechanisms. It is a forum where the disputes/cases pending in the court

of law or at pre-litigation stage are settled amicably. The Lok Adalat has

been given statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act,

1987. Under this Act, an award made by a Lok Adalat is deemed to be a

decree of a civil court and is final and binding on all parties and no

appeal lies against thereto before any court.

(c) Family Courts:- The Family Courts Act, 1984 was enacted with a view to

provide for establishment of Family Courts by the State Governments in

consultation with the High Courts to promote conciliation and secure speedy

settlement of disputes relating to marriage, family affairs and related matters. In

accordance with the provisions of Section 3 of the Act, the State Government

has to establish mandatorily Family Court for every area in the State comprising

a city or a town whose population exceeds ten lakh. In other areas of the States,

the Family Courts may be set up if the State Governments deem it necessary.

(d) National Judicial Academy:- The National Judicial Academy is an autonomous

body registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and came into

existence with effect from 17th August, 1993. The affairs of the Academy are

managed by a Governing Council, which is chaired by the Chief Justice of India.

The registered office of the Academy is in the Supreme Court Building at New

Delhi and another office was established in August, 2000 at Bhopal. The main

objectives of the Academy are to impart training to the Judicial Officers of the

States/Union Territories and to study court management and administration of

justice in States and Union territories.

(e) National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms: It was set up in

August, 2011, and became fully functional with effect from the financial year

2012-13. The twin goals of the Mission include increasing access by reducing

delays and arrears in the system and enhancing accountability at all levels

through structural changes and setting performance standards and facilitating

enhancement of capacities for achieving such performance standards. The


6

schemes/initiatives under the Mission are Action Research and Studies on

Judicial Reforms, Access to Justice - Government of India Project, E-Courts

Phase-II, Infrastructure development of subordinate judiciary, reducing judicial

delays and improving justice delivery system etc.

(f) Centrally Sponsored Scheme: The government is implementing a Centrally

Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for development of infrastructure facilities for

judiciary since 1993-94. The scheme covers construction of court buildings and

residential accommodation for judicial officers/judges of District and

Subordinate courts. The fund sharing pattern of the Scheme has been revised to

60:40 (Centre: State) and 90:10 (Centre: State) for the eight North-Eastern and

three Himalayan States from 2015-2016. In November, 2017, the Union Cabinet

approved continuation of the Scheme up to 31st March, 2020 with an outlay of

Rs 3320 crore to be implemented in Mission Mode through the National

Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms.

(g) Computerization of District and Subordinate Courts

E-Courts Mission Mode Project (MMP) Phase - I & II:- This Project is being

implemented by the Department under the guidance of e-Committee, Supreme

Court of India to put in place a justice deliver system that possesses better

efficiency, accessibility, affordability, more transparency and set timeliness.

Initiated in 2010, the Phase-I of the Project concluded at a total cost of Rs

639.144 crore. The Phase II of the Project with an outlay of Rs 1670 crore,

commenced in August, 2015 and is set to conclude in 2019. The scheme

includes components such as computerisation of Courts, use of solar energy

under e-Courts Project, computerisation of the Public Prosecutors Office, video-

conferencing facility for jails, enhancement of ICT infrastructure of courts,

digitization of old case records, computerisation of Judicial libraries,

upgradation of application software, SMS based services, Touch Screen Kiosks.

(h) Establishment of Gram Nyayalayas under the Gram Nyayalayas Act,

2008 :- The Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 has been enacted by the Parliament to

provide for the establishment of the Gram Nyayalayas at the grass root level for

the purpose of providing speedy and inexpensive access to justice to the citizens

at their door steps. The Central Government meets fifty percent of the recurring


expenses incurred

subject to a ceiling

(i) Second National

Subordinate Judiciary

conditions of service

7

incurred on the setting up of these courts in the

ceiling of 3.20 lakh per Gram Nyayalaya per annum.

National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC) has been

Judiciary to examine the present structure of

service of Judicial Officers in the States and UTs.

the first three years,

annum.

been constituted for

of emoluments and

UTs.


8

CHAPTER – II

AN OVERVIEW OF THE BUDGET ALLOCATIONS DURING 2018-19

2.0. The total proposed budgetary allocations for the Ministry of Law and Justice for the

financial year 2018-19 are shown under the following three Demands: -

(i) Demand No. 61 is the consolidated Budget Estimates pertaining to the

Department of Legal Affairs, the Legislative Department and the Department

of Justice under the Ministry of Law and Justice;

(ii) Demand No. 62 pertains to the Election Commission, which is under the

administrative control of the Legislative Department; and

(iii) Demand No. 63 pertains to the Supreme Court of India, which is under the

administrative control of the Department of Justice. The expenditure incurred

on the Supreme Court of India is ‘charged’ expenditure.

2.1. In the detailed Demands for Grants for the financial year 2018-19, the budgetary

allocations are depicted only by Revenue/Capital and Charged/Voted.

2.2. The Revenue/Capital, Charged/Voted break-ups of the budgetary allocations under

Demand Nos. 61, 62 and 63 for the financial year 2018-19 are given below:-f

TABLE No. - I

Demand Nos. 61, 62 & 63 at a Glance ( in crores)

Demand No. Total Revenue Capital Charged Voted

61 – Ministry of Law & Justice (Department of Legal Affairs, Department of Justice and Legislative Department)

4386.33 2586.33 1800 - 4386.33

62 – Election Commission of India 267.96 248.66 19.30 - 267.96

63 – Supreme Court 251.06 251.06 - 251.06 -

Grand total 4905.35 3086.05 1819.30 251.06 4654.29

2.3. Out of the total allocation of 4386.33 crore for Demand No. 61 of the Ministry of

Law and Justice, 2586.33 is allocated in revenue side, which accounts for 59% (approx.).

Similarly, out of the total allocation of 267.96 crore under Demand No.62 for the Election

Commission India, 248.66 crore is allocated for revenue expenditure, which accounts for

93% (approx.). Under Demand No. 63, 251.06 crore, which is 100% ‘revenue

expenditure’, is sought for Supreme Court of India.


9

DEMAND NO. 61

MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE

Summary of proposed Budget Estimates 2018-19

2.4. The Committee has been informed by the Ministry that against the projected demand

of Rs 6550.38 crore under Demand No. 61 in BE 2018-19, the Ministry of Finance has

provided a total allocation of only Rs 4386.33 crore, which is a shortfall of Rs 2164.05 crore

(33.03%). Details of Scheme/Non-scheme, Revenue/Capital wise approved allocation by the

Ministry of Finance as well as variation from BE/RE 2017-18 are as under:

TABLE NO. – II

Demand No. 61 – Budget at a Glance ( in crore)

BE 2017-18 RE 2017-18 BE 2018-19 Variation over

Scheme Non-scheme

Scheme Non-scheme

Scheme Non-scheme

BE 2017-18

RE 2017-18

Revenue 1061.70 2010.69 1016.41 1642.52 1127.00 1459.33 15.8% (decrease)

2.7% (decrease)

Capital

0.00 1071.27 0.00 1531.00 0.00 1800.00

68% (increase)

17.5% (increase)

Total

1061.70 3081.96 1016.41 3173.52 1127.00 3259.33

Grand total

4143.66 4189.93 4386.33 5.85% (increase)

4.68% (increase)

2.5. There is an increase of 46.27 crore in RE (2017-18) over BE (2017-18) and an

increase of 242.67 crore in BE (2018-19) over BE (2017-18) for the Ministry of Law and

Justice. There is a decrease of around 2.7% in BE 2018-19 over RE 2017-18 in the revenue

side and an increase of 17.5% in the capital side.

TABLE NO. – III

Department-wise allocation in BE 2018-19 ( in crore)

Sl. No. Department Revenue Capital Total Scheme Non-Scheme

1 Department of Legal Affairs

0.00 219.40 70.00 289.40

2 Legislative Department 0.00 1126.10 1730.00 2856.10

3 Department of Justice 1127.00 113.83 0.00 1240.83

Total 1127.00 1459.33 1800.00 4386.33


10

2.6. The allocations to different components under the Scheme head are as under.

TABLE NO. – IV

Schemes under Demand No. 61

Sl. No. Name of the Unit/Scheme BE 2018-19

A National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms (Central Sector)

1. E-Courts Phase-II 430.30

2. Grant in Aid to NER 49.70

3. Action Research and Studies on Judicial Reforms

2.00

4. Access to Justice – Govt. of India (NEJK) 15.00

*5. Access to Justice for Marginalized in India UNDP (SAJI)

0.00

Total(A) 497.00

B Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary (Centrally Sponsored Scheme)

1. CSS for Development of Infrastructure of Judiciary-States 507.00

2. CSS for Development of Infrastructure of Judiciary-UT with Legislature 50.00

3. Assistance to State Governments for establishing and operating Gram Nyayalayas

8.00

4. CSS for Development of Infrastructure of Judiciary-UT with Legislature 2.00

5 Grant in Aid to NER of Development of Infrastructure of Judiciary 63.00

Total 630.00

Grand Total 1127.00

*Phase II of the Project has completed in December, 2017

2.7. Department-wise percentage change in allocation in BE 2018-19 over BE 2017-18

and variation between projections made and proposed allocation in BE 2018-19 is given

below.

TABLE NO. - V Department-wise allocation and percentage change in allocation over BE 2017-18

(Figure in crore )

Sl. No.

Name of the Department

BE 2017-18 RE 2017-18 Projections made to MoF for 2018-19

BE 2018-19 % change BE 2017-18

to BE 2018-19

Variation between

projections and BE

2018-19 (%)

REVENUE CAPITAL

REVENUE CAPITAL REVENUE CAPITAL TOTAL

1. DEPT. OF LEGAL AFFAIRS

245.40 71.26 255.16 31.00 351.94 219.40 70.00 289.40 -8.61 (-) 18

2. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

1625.89 1000.01 1247.33 1500.00 4872.19 1126.10 1730.00 2856.10 +8.77 (-) 41

3. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

1201.10 0.00 1156.44 0.00 1326.24 1240.83* 0.00 1240.83 +3.31 (-) 6

TOTAL 3072.39 1071.27 2658.93 1531.00 6550.38 2586.33 1800.00^

GRAND TOTAL 4143.66 4189.93 6550.38 4386.33 +5.86

*This includes 1127.00 crore for Schemes implemented by the Department of Justice.

^Out of this, 1730.00 crore is for procurement of EVMs, VVPAT, etc. and the balance 70.00 crore is for ITAT.


11

Department of Legal Affairs

2.8. The Committee has been informed that the budgetary allocations for the Department

of Legal Affairs are under Non-scheme only. Further, as against the projection of 351.94

crore, the Department of Legal Affairs was allocated 289.40 crore only, which is 6.6 per

cent (approx.) of the total allocation under Demand No. 61. The Department has submitted

that no impact is envisaged of the reduced allocation on the working of the Department in

view of the current expenditure trends and also due to the facts that no schemes and

programmes are implemented by the Department of Legal Affairs. However, the Department

has also informed that subject to requisite approval, it envisages setting up a dedicated

scheme to provide grants to academic bodies for research activities/seminars, training

programmes and Legal Information Management and Briefing System (LIMBS).

2.9. The following table is indicative of the increase/decrease from BE and RE (2017-18)

in the allocation in BE (2018-19) and expenditure of Department of Legal Affairs up to 5th

February, 2018.

TABLE NO. - VI

Department of Legal Affairs ( in crore)

NON-SCHEME

Sl. No.

Major Head/Name of the Unit BE 2017-18

RE 2017-18

Expenditure up to

05.02.2018

% expenditure of RE 2017-18

BE 2018-19

Increase/ Decrease (BE-BE)

1. 2052: Department of Legal Affairs 56.12 55.17 41.36 74.87 54.55 -1.57

2. 2052: Central Agency Section 9.54 9.53 7.33 76.92 9.54 0.00

3. 2020: Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT)

98.34 96.34 70.53 73.20 90.35 -7.99

4. 2020: National Tax Tribunal 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.00 -0.01

5. 2070: Law Commission 15.72 12.45 10.74 86.24 7.38 -8.34

6. 2052: Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange(ATFE)

11.53 11.53 *4.26 36.95 0.00 -11.53

7. 2014: Legal Adviser and Counsels 54.13 70.13 55.79 79.55 57.58 3.45

8. 2014: International Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution(ICADR)

0.01 0.01 0.00 0.0 0.00 -0.01

9. 2070: International Law Association (ILA)

0.01 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.00 -0.01

10. 4070: Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) (Capital Outlay)

71.00 31.00 **13.63 43.98 70.00 -1.00

11. 4070: National Tax Tribunal (NTT) (Capital Outlay)

0.01 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.00 -0.01


12

12. D/O Legal Affairs 0.25 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.00 -0.25

13. Deduct Recovery of unspent Balance of Grant-in-Aid

0.00

Total 316.66 286.16 203.64 71.16 289.40 -27.26

Capital 71.26 31.00 13.63 43.96 70.00 -1.26

Revenue 245.40 255.16 190.01 74.46 219.40 -26.00

* As ATFE merged the Appellate Tribunal under the SAFEMA, funds allocated to ATFE could not be fully utilized.

** Construction of office-cum-residential complex for ITAT Lucknow Bench, purchasing of land for ITAT Kolkata

Bench, has not materialized so far. However, balance amount of 17.37 crore presently available is likely to be utilised for the office space in the proposed World Trade Centre, at Nauraoji Nagar, New Delhi.

2.10. It may be seen from the table above that in BE (2018-19) there is a decrease of

27.26 crore over BE (2017-18) and an increase of 3.24 crore over RE (2017-18). Major

portion of the allocation of the Department is for the Legal Advisers & Counsels and for

Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), which also includes acquisition and construction of

building for Benches of ITAT in different parts of the country. It is also observed that the

overall expenditure as on 5.02.2018 is just 71.16 percent and on the capital side it is just

43.96 percent.

Legislative Department

2.11. The Committee has been informed that the budgetary allocations for the Legislative

Department are under Non-scheme only. Further, as against the projection of 4872.19 crore,

the Legislative Department has been allocated only 2856.10 crore, including 1730 crore

as Capital allocation for purchase of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable

Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) for the Election Commission of India. The allocation for the

Legislative Department is 65% (approx.) of the total allocation under Demand No. 61.


in the allocation in BE (2018-19) and expenditure of Legislative Department up to

5th February, 2018.

TABLE NO. – VII Legislative Department

( in crore)

NON-SCHEME

Sl. No.

Name of the Unit/ Scheme

BE 2017-18

RE 2017-18

Expenditure up to

05.02.2018

% expenditure

of RE 2017-18

BE 2018-19


1. Legislative Department 24.20 22.80 18.00 78.9 23.14 -1.06

2. Official Language Wing 10.64 10.64 8.86 83.2 10.24 -0.40

3. Vidhi Sahitya Prakashan 6.44 5.44 4.37 80.3 5.60 -0.84


13

4. Elections (Reimbursement to State/UTs)

1584.61 1208.45 1023.58 84.7 1056.35 -528.26

5. EVMs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.0 30.77 30.77

6. Token Amount for Institute for Legislative Drafting and Research (Capital Outlay)

0.01 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.00 -0.01

TOTAL (Revenue) 1625.90 1247.33 1054.81 84.5 1126.10 -499.80

7. EVMs for Election Commission (Capital)

1000.00 1500.00 833.90 55.6 1730.00 730.00

TOTAL 2625.90 2747.33 1888.71 68.7 2856.10 230.20

2.13. It may be seen from the table above that there is a total increase of 230.20 crore in

BE (2018-19) over BE (2017-18), which is mainly on account of increase in allocations under

the Head ‘EVMs for Election Commission’.

Department of Justice

2.14. The allocation for Department of Justice is 1240.83 crore, which includes 113.83

crore under Non-Scheme and 1127 crore under Scheme side, and it is 28 per cent (approx)

of the total allocation under Demand No.61.


in the allocation in BE (2018-19) and expenditure of Department of Justice up to 5th

February, 2018.

TABLE NO. - VIII

Department of Justice ( in crore)

SCHEME S.No. Name of the Unit/Scheme BE

2017-18 RE

2017-18 Expenditur

e up to 21.02.2018

% expenditure of RE 2017-18

BE 2018-19


A National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms (Central Sector)

1. E-Courts Phase-II 372.75 341.99 363.29

96.8 430.30 57.55

2. *Grant in Aid to NER 43.25 33.01 49.70 6.45

3. Action Research and Studies on Judicial Reforms

2.00

1.26

1.06

84.1 2.00 0.00

4. Access to Justice – Govt. of India (NEJK)

7.50

3.94

3.94

100 15.00 7.50

5. Access to Justice for Marginalized people in India (SAJI) (Phase II), EAP

7.00 7.00 6.28

89.7 0.00 -7.00

Total (A) 432.50 387.20 374.57 96.7 497.00 64.50


14

B Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary (Centrally Sponsored Scheme)

1. CSS for Development of Infrastructure of Judiciary-States

478.28 472.58

558.20

89.8

507.00 28.72

2. CSS for Development of Infrastructure of Judiciary-UT with Legislature

75.00 75.00 50.00 -25.00

3. CSS for Development of Infrastructure of Judiciary-UT with Legislature

5.00 5.00 2.00 -3.00

4. Grant in Aid to NER of Development of Infrastructure of Judiciary

62.92 68.63 63.00 0.08

5. Assistance to State Governments for establishing and operating Gram Nyayalayas

8.00 8.00 8.00 100 8.00 0.00

Total (B) 629.20

629.21 566.20

89.9 630.00 0.08

Total (A) + (B) 1061.70 1016.41 940.77 92.5 1127.00 65.30

*Allocated under eCourt Project Phase II for computerisation of courts in North Eastern States.

TABLE NO. - IX ( in crore)

NON-SCHEME

S. No.

Name of the Unit/Scheme

BE 2017-18

RE 2017-18

Expenditure up to

05.02.2018

% expenditure

of RE 2017-18

BE 2018-19


1. Department of Justice 9.35 12.14 7.45 61.3 12.93 3.58

2. Secretariat expenditure of National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms

2.90 2.20 0.98 44.5 2.26 -0.64

3. National Judicial Academy

16.00 16.00 13.00 81.25 11.15 -4.85

4. Special Courts (Family Courts)

0.01 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.00 -0.01

5. National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)

8.85 7.40 3.37 45.5 5.20 -3.65

6. NALSA (Grants-in-Aid)

100.00 100.00 54.40 54.4 80.00 -20.00

7. Supreme Court Legal Service Committee (SCLSCE)

2.29 2.29 1.28 55.8 2.29 0.00

Total (Non-Scheme) 139.40 140.03 80.48 57.5 113.83 -25.57

2.16. As against the projection of 1326.24 crore, the Department of Justice was allocated

1240.83 in BE (2018-19). It may be seen from the table above that there is a total increase

of 65.30 crore in BE (2018-19) over BE (2017-18) for Schemes, mainly on account of


15

increased allocation in BE (2018-19) for E-Courts Phase-II, Action Research and Studies on

Judicial Reforms, Grant in aid to NER and slight increase in allocation for CSS for

infrastructure of judiciary. However, the Department has informed that there is a shortfall of

Rs 480.00 crore, Rs 268.28 crore and Rs 3.5 crore vis-à-vis the projections made for three

major Schemes, viz. CSS for infrastructure of judiciary, E-Courts Phase-II and Access to

Justice – GoI (NEJ&K). Also, NALSA too has not received funds as per the projection made

by it. The projection was for Rs 140 crore, whereas the allocation is only Rs 80 crore.

DEMAND NO. 62

ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA

2.17. Election Commission India is a constitutional authority created under Article 324 of

Constitution. The entire expenditure incurred by the Election Commission of India is Voted.

2.18. Budgetary allocation of Rs 267.96 crore has been proposed for the financial year

2018-19, of which Rs 248.66 crore is the revenue expenditure and Rs 19.30 crore is the

capital expenditure for construction of IIIDEM campus. The revenue expenditure accounts

for 93 per cent (approx.) of the total proposed allocation.The variation between BE 2018-19

over BE 2017-18 and that between BE 2018-19 and projections made to MoF are reflected in

the table below.

TABLE NO. - X

Budget at a Glance ( in crore)

BE ( 2017-18)

RE (2017-18)

Projections to MoF for BE 2018-19

BE (2018-19)

Variation of BE 2018-19 over

BE 2017-18 RE 2017-18 Projection made to MoF

146.00 189.79 413.82 267.96

R: 248.66 C: 19.30

(+) 121.96

(+) 78.17 (-) 145.86

2.19. The Commission has informed that there is an increase of 83.53% in BE (2018-19)

over BE (2017-18), which is mainly due to increase in provision for Information Technology

(628.17%), Voters’ Awareness (80.58%) and Training (87.86%). Variation in BE 2018-19

over RE 2017-18 is also mainly due to increase in provision in the same heads. However,

provision in Capital Section has been decreased in BE 2018-19 by 41.52% and 73.12% in

comparison to BE 2017-18 and RE 2017-18, respectively. The Commission has submitted


16

that the funds allocated under the capital section are insufficient and proposal for additional

funds may be moved to the Ministry of Finance at appropriate time so that the construction

work of the IIIDEM campus and purchase of land from DDA for construction of additional

office for Election Commission do not get affected for want of funds.

DEMAND NO. 63

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

2.20. The Supreme Court of India is the highest constitutional court and also the final court

of appeal. The expenditure incurred on the Supreme Court of India is ‘charged’ on the

Consolidated Fund of India. Accordingly, entire Demand No. 63 is a ‘charged’ expenditure.

2.21. Budgetary allocation of Rs 251.06 crore has been proposed for the financial year

2018-19. The entire demand consists of Revenue expenditure only. The variation between BE

2018-19 over BE 2017-18 and that between BE 2018-19 and projections made to MoF are

reflected in the table below.

TABLE NO. - XI Budget at a Glance

( in crore)

BE ( 2017-18)

RE (2017-18)

Projections to MoF for BE 2018-19

BE (2018-19)

Variation of BE 2018-19 over

BE 2017-18 RE 2017-18 Projection made to MoF

247.00 255.00 251.06 251.06 (R)

(+) 4.06 (-) 3.94 0

2.22. There is an increase of 8 crore in RE (2017-18) over BE (2017-18). However, there

is a decrease of Rs 3.94 crore in BE 2018-19 over RE (2017-18).

OBSERVATIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS

2.23. The Committee observes that in BE (2018-19), allocation to the Ministry was

enhanced by 242.67 crore over BE (2017-18). Similarly, allocations of Election

Commission of India and Supreme Court of India were enhanced by 121.96 crore and

4.06 crore respectively. However, the allocation in BE (2018-19) is substantially low as

compared to projection by the Departments under the Ministry and the Election

Commission of India. As per the data provided, the Ministry had projected a

requirement of ₹ 6550.38 crore for BE 2018-19 to the Ministry of Finance, against which

an allocation of only ₹ 4386.33 crore has been approved, which is just 67% of the


17

allocation sought from the Ministry of Finance. Similarly, the Election Commission of

India had projected a requirement of Rs 413.82 crore, against which an allocation of

only ₹ 267.96 crore has been approved, which is just 65% of the allocation sought from

the Ministry of Finance. This indicates that either the projections of the

Ministry/Commission were overestimated or they have received inadequate funds.

2.24. The Ministry of Law and Justice and organisations under its administrative

control play a very important role in bringing reforms in the Indian Legal System to

achieve expansion, inclusion and excellence in legal education, the legal profession and

legal aid services. They need sufficient funds to cater to their requirements; to execute

ongoing schemes/programmes and to initiate new schemes/programmes. Thus, the

Committee strongly recommends that the Ministry and its organizations are allocated

sufficient funds in the FY 2018-19 to carry out its mandate and additional requirement

of funds may be provided at the RE stage. The Committee makes similar

recommendation for the Election Commission of India so that the activities of the

Commission are not hampered due to paucity of funds.

2.25. The Committee after analyzing the trend of expenditure in the FY 2017-18 in the

Ministry observes that as on 21st February, 2018, the Ministry has been able to spend

about 92 percent of the funds under schemes. However, the spending under the non-

scheme heads is only 71.16, 68.7 and 57.5 percent, respectively, for the Department of

Legal Affairs, Legislative Department and Department of Justice as on 5th February,

2018. As per the instructions of the Ministry of Finance, expenditure in the last quarter

is to be restricted to 33% ceiling and last month (March) expenditure to 15% ceiling.

Thus, performance of the Ministry in terms of utilization of funds under schemes leaves

much to be desired. A focused planning and close monitoring of utilization of funds is

required on the part of the Ministry. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the

Ministry should identify the bottlenecks responsible for not being able to maintain the

pace of utilization required as per the instructions of the Ministry of Finance and take

remedial measures so as to improve its performance in utilization of scheme funds in the

future.


18

CHAPTER - III

DEMAND NO. 61: LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

3.1. The major portion of the Legislative Department’s Budget is meant for election

expenses and purchase of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter-Verified Paper

Audit Trail (VVPAT). They are to reimburse the expenditure incurred on the conduct of

Elections to the State Governments/UTs.

The Department had proposed the requirement of 4872.09 crore against which the Ministry

of Finance has allocated 2625.9 crore in BE (2018-19), which is a shortfall of 2246.19

crore (54 per cent approx.) against their projected demand. Against BE (2017-18) of 1000

crore, an amount of 1730 crore has been allocated in BE (2018-19), an increase of 730

crore over BE (2017-18), which is 73 percent approx. The increase is due to procurement of

EVMs, VVPATs etc., by Election Commission keeping in view the Lok Sabha Election in

the year 2019.

Official Languages Wing

3.2. Official Languages Wing of the Legislative Department is responsible for preparing

and publishing standard legal glossary and also for translating into Hindi, all the Bills to be

introduced in Parliament, all Central Acts, Ordinances, subordinate legislations, etc., as

required under the Official Languages Act, 1963. This Wing is also responsible for arranging

translation of the Constitution, Central Acts, Ordinances, etc., into the Official Languages as

specified in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution as required under the Authoritative Texts

(Central Laws) Act, 1973. As per the Eight Schedule of the Constitution, 22

languages(Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati ,Hindi ,Kannada ,Kashmiri ,Konkani,

Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi,

Tamil, Telugu, Urdu) are recognized as scheduled language. However, the Secretary,

Legislative Department during the meeting of the Committee on the Demands for Grants

(2018-19) submitted that as against the total strength of 151 in Official Language Wing, they

have only 15 language officers in their Regional Language wing. An amount of 10.24 crore

has been allocated to the Official Language Wing in BE (2018-19) which is a decrease of

0.4 crore over the allocations of 10.64 crore in BE (2017-18).


19

Vidhi Sahitya Prakashan (VSP)

3. 3. Vidhi Sahitya Prakashan brings out various publications of legal literature, including

law books and law journals, in Hindi containing Hindi translations of selected judgments of

the Supreme Court and High Courts on cases pertaining to constitutional, civil and criminal

laws. An amount of 5.60 crore has been allocated to the Vidhi Sahitya Prakashan in BE

(2018-19) which is an increase of 0.16 crore over the allocations of 5.44 crore in RE

(2017-18).

3.4. There are twenty two languages specified under VIII Schedule of the

Constitution which includes six classical languages i.e. Tamil, Sanskrit, Malayalam,

Kannad, Telugu and Odia. Article 343 stipulates that the official language of the Union

shall be in Hindi in Devanagri Script and English. The Official Language Act, 1963 and

the Official Language Rules, 1970, promotes use of Hindi progressively in official work

in addition to English. Article 345 of the Constitution mentions that official language of

a State may be one or more languages or Hindi or English. Article 120 of the

Constitution mentions that the business in Parliament shall be transacted in Hindi or in

English. Similarly Article 210 mentions that the business in the legislature of a State

shall be transacted in the official language of the State or in Hindi or in English. Article

351 cast duty upon the Union Government to promote Hindi having special reference to

composite culture of India and for its vocabulary reliance is placed primarily on

Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages. Article 350 gives a constitutional right to

every citizen of the country to send petition to any authority of the Union or the State in

any languages used in the Union or in the State as the case may be.

3.5. Out of twenty two languages specified VIII Schedule of Constitution. The

Legislative Department brings out authoritative texts of Constitution in sixteen

languages. Those are Assamees, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannad, Telugu, Tamil,

Kashmiri, Konkari, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Odia, Urdu, Sindhi, Sanskrit and

Nepali. The Legislative Department is responsible for translation of Central Legislation

both supreme and subordinate in languages mentioned in VIII Schedule of the

Constitution. The Constitution of India also needs to be made available in those

languages. The Legislative Department in their submission informed the Committee

that the updated diglot edition of Constitution is to be published, while Constitution in

other languages have not yet been updated in other languages. The Committee,


20

therefore, exhorts the Department to expedite authoritative translation of Constitution

and other Central Legislation complied on Bharat Sanhita (India Code) for

popularisation of law amongst people speaking those languages.

3.6. The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirteenth Amendment) Bill, 2010 changed

the name of Orissa to Odisha and the Oriya language to Odia. However, in the Annual

Report, 2017-18 of the Ministry old nomenclature is still used. The Department is

accordingly, recommended to update and use the new nomenclature in future reports.

3. 7. The Committee also recommends the Department to use simple day to day

vocabulary in Hindi, wherever possible, and simply the legal terminology for the

understanding of the common people of the country. The Department may also explore

the possibility of creating a separate webpage where all the Acts/Ordinances/Rules

translated by it in regional languages are available. The Committee further

recommends the Department to recruit more language officers or engage experts or

consultants so that legal texts and documents could be simplified and translated in

regional languages for the understanding of the common people.


21

CHAPTER - IV

DEMAND NO. 62: ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA

4.0. The entire expenditure of the Election Commission of India (ECI) is ‘voted’. The

proposed allocation in BE (2018-19) is 267.96 crore, against the projected requirement of

413.82 crore, which is a shortfall of 145. 86 crore (35 per cent approx.). The Major

reduction has been done under the Information Technology, i.e., 108.33 crores, as against

the projection of 223.31 crore, Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral

Participation (SVEEP) i.e., 43.34 crores, as against 71 crore. The BE (2018-19) exceeds

the RE (2017-18) by 78.17 crore, which is an increase of 30 per cent (approx).

4.1. The Commission in its written replies to the questionnaire of the Committee on the

Demands for Grants (2018-19) submitted that the General Election to the Legislative

Assemblies of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat were held in 2017-18. General Elections to the

Legislative Assemblies of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura would be held in Financial Year

2017-18. Moreover, some bills related to Financial Year 2016-17 were cleared in Financial

Year 2017-18. The 26.30 crore have been allocated in BE (2018-19) as the India

International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) campus in likely to

be operational in the next financial year and Training Division would run in its optimal

capacity.

4.2. The Committee observes that as against the projection of 413.82 crore, only

267.96 crore have been allocated in BE (2018-19), which is a short fall of 145.86 crore

(35 percent approx), with major reductions being under the head Information

Technology and voters awareness. The Committee is of the view that with the increased

penetration of internet in the country and focus of the Government on programmes like

Digital India to reach out to common people, information technology has become

crucial medium to reach large number of voters in a very short time. However, the

Committee notes that the allocation under the head Information technology and voters

awareness is less than the projected demand, which may affect the activities of the

Commission in the coming General Elections to the Lok Sabha in 2019. The Committee,

accordingly, recommends that, if needed, allocations for it should be enhanced suitably

at RE stage so that activities of the ECI are not adversely affected due to want of funds.

Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP)


22

4.3. The Commission has taken up a Systematic Voters Education and Electoral

Participation (SVEEP) programme countrywide with the objective of maximizing voters’

turnout during elections. SVEEP entails a series of activities at the field level and is also

related with training and exchange of good practices within and outside the country. The

Phase-III of the Project was launched on 25th January, 2016. The project document lays down

the SVEEP strategy for the next five years 2016-2020 based on which the annual action plan

of the State/UTs and districts will be chalked out. It involves creating voters awareness and

electoral participation, electoral education, engaging civil society, promoting ethical voting

etc. The Commission in its written replies to the questionnaire of the Committee on the

Demands for Grants (2018-19) submitted that they have started preparation for the General

Election to the Lok Sabha in the year 2019 and hence 43.43 crore has been provided in

Grants-in Aid-General under Voters awareness in BE (2018-19) to reach targeted groups and

raise voters awareness.

4.4. The Committee appreciates programmes like Systematic Voters Education and

Electoral Participation (SVEEP) as it feels that they are very important to raise voters

awareness about the importance of election in a democracy and right and

responsibilities of citizens, which in-turn are very important in increasing voters turn-

out. The Committee, accordingly, reiterates its recommendations contained in Ninety-

first Report of the Committee on the Demands for Grants (2017-18) that important

initiatives like SVEEP should not be crippled for want of adequate funds. However, the

Committee is also pained to note that as on September, 2017, the Actual Expenditure of

the Commission under the Head Voters Awareness was only 8.4 crore and

accordingly, recommends the ECI also to project its demands realistically in its future

demands.

INDIA INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DEMOCRACY AND ELECTION MANAGEMENT (IIIDEM)

4.5. The India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM)

was launched in June, 2011 in its premises to assess training requirements of election staff

and impart training to the officers of the country. IIIDEM has also organised training

programmes form election officials from developing country from Asia and Africa.

4.6. The Commission in its written replies to the questionnaire informed the Committee

that construction of campus of India International Institute of Democracy and Election


23

Management (IIIDEM) would be completed in next financial year and then ECI would be in

a position to utilize optimally its Training Division’s capacity and additional expenditure on

various establishment related exercise and conduct of training programmes would be required

in the new campus. International training and capacity building programmes were undertaken

by the IIIDEM during the Financial Year 2017-18.

TABLE NO. -XII

TRAINING PROGRAMMES AT IIIDEM

Year No. of Programmes

No. of Training Days at IIIDEM

No of Master Trainers Trained

at IIIDEM

2015-16 66 240 857

2016-17 391 908 14532

2017-18 (till January, 2018) 133 422 4500

4.7. The Committee appreciates the activities of the IIIDEM and of the considered

opinion that after the completion of permanent campus of the Institute this year its

activities/programmes would go-up further. The Committee also appreciates the

initiatives of IIIDEM in conducting training programmes for election official of others

countries and desires that appropriate measures may be taken to invite more and more

countries, especially developing countries to built human resource capacities and

promote India’s global standing.

COMMON ELECTORAL ROLL


Demands for Grants (2018-19) submitted that there are 87,53,72,057 electors enrolled in the

electoral rolls, 2018 as against 86,69,13,278 electors in the electoral roll, 2017 (Annexure--).

Ongoing revision, 2018 shows net increase of 0.98 % in electors over previous electoral roll.

4.9. The Election Commission of India (ECI) and State Election Commissions (SECs) are

two constitutional bodies which have been entrusted to conduct free and fair election to

Parliament, State Legislatures and Local Self-Bodies. The former body is responsible to

conduct free and fair election to Parliament and State Legislatures under Article 324 of the

Constitution while the latter is vested with the power of conducting election to Panchayat Raj

Institutions (PRIs) and Municipal Bodies under Articles 243K and 243 Z(A) of the


24

Constitution. The preparation of Electoral roll for the election of above mentioned bodies lies

with Election Commission of India and respective State Election Commissions. The

Registration of Electoral Rules, 1960 provides procedure for preparation, publication and

revision of electoral roll. Summary revision of electoral roll is done every year by the ECI for

which 1st January of the year is chosen as the cut off date for inclusion of new names and

exclusion of some of the old voters. While some of the State Election Commissions use the

Electoral Roll prepared by ECI for conducting election to PRIs and Municipal Bodies in their

State while other States prepare their electoral roll de novo. Be that as it may, the voter is the

same even though they are called upon to exercise their constitutional right (Right to Vote) at

different election and at different point of time.


Demands for Grants (2018-19) submitted that it has been receiving requests from several

State Election Commissions from time to time to evolve software for preparing common

electoral rolls for local body elections and Assembly/Parliamentary elections. They further

submitted that it would be difficult for the Commission to undertake such massive exercise

for all the 78 crore electors in the country as there is no uniform system for preparation of

rolls by State Election Commission in States and it would not be possible for the ECI to

collect the data of panchayat, municipal body and ward number and feed it in the database. In

BE (2017-18) 300 crore is proposed allocation against the projected demand of 500 crore.

4.11. The Committee notes that preparation of Electoral roll involves huge

expenditure, manpower and time. Preparation of electoral roll by ECI and SECs

involves some amount of duplication of efforts as the voter is the same for election to

different bodies. It is understood that common electoral roll would save time, money

and manpower of the nation besides removing inconsistencies between two sets of

electoral roll and resultant confusion in the mind of the voter. It also limits the scope for

electoral malpractices. The Committee accordingly, reiterates its recommendation

contained in the 75th Report of the Committee on the Demands for Grants (2015-16) and

impresses upon the Election Commission of India and the State Election Commissions

to conduct various elections from local bodies to Parliament on the basis of a common

electoral roll. The Committee also recommends the ECI to co-ordinate with and

convinces the State Election Commissions to update the voter database already

available online for the purpose of PRIs and Municipalities elections. The Committee


25

also recommends the Legislative Department to bring out amendment in the extant

legislations for evolving a common electoral roll.

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINE (EVMs) AND VOTER VERIFIABLE PAPER

AUDIT TRAIL SYSTEM (VVPAT)

4.12. Taking advantage of the technological development, overcome problems associated

with use of ballot papers and removing the possibilities of invalid votes totally, the Election

Commission of India in December, 1977 mooted the idea of EVM. The law was amended by

the Parliament in December, 1988 and a new section 61A was inserted in the Representation

of the People Act, 1951 empowering the Commission to use voting machines. The amended

provision came into force w.e.f. 15th March, 1989. Accordingly, the Government appointed

the Electoral Reforms Committee in January, 1990 consisting of representative of several

recognized National and State Parties. The Electoral Reforms Committee further constituted a

technical Expert Committee of the Electoral Reforms Committee (1990) was of the

conclusion that the electronic voting machine is a secure system and unanimously

recommended in April, 1990 the use of the electronic voting machines without further loss of

time. Since 2000, EVMs have been used in 107 General Elections to State Legislative

Assemblies and 3 General Elections to Lok Sabha held in 2004, 2009 & 2014.

4.13. Certain additional features were introduced in 2006 in ECI-EVMs such as dynamic

coding between Ballot Unit (BU) and Control Unit (CU), installation of real time clock,

installation of full display system and date and time stamping of every key-pressing in EVM.

Technical Evaluation Committee in 2006 has concluded that any tempering of CU by coded

signals by wireless or outside or Bluetooth or WiFi is ruled out as CU does not have high

frequency receiver and data decoder. CU accepts only specially encrypted and dynamically

coded data from BU. Data from any outside source cannot be accepted by CU.

4.14. ECI based on consultation with political parties in 2010 considered to explore use of

Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) with a view to enhance transparency.

Introduction of VVPAT implied that a paper slip is generated bearing name and symbol of

the candidate along with recording of vote in Control Unit, so that in case of any dispute,

paper slip could be counted to verify the result being shown on the EVM. Under VVPAT, a

printer is attached to the balloting Unit and kept in the voting compartment. The paper slip

remains visible on VVPAT for seven seconds through a transparent window. The

Commission used VVPAT in Nagaland bye election in 2013 and the Supreme Court of India

directed the Government for the ordered introduction of VVPAT in phased manner. The


26

Commission proposes to implement VVPAT at every polling station in the next General

Election to Lok Sabha due in 2019. So far, VVPATs have been used in 255 Assembly

Constituencies and 09 Parliamentary Constituencies. In Goa elections in 2017, VVPAT was

employed in all 40 Legislative Assembly Constituencies1.

4.15. The EVMs are procured from Central Public Sector Undertakings, BEL and ECIL.

The BEL has its unit in Bengaluru and ECIL has its unit in Hyderabad. However, the one

time programmable micro-chip used in EVM is imported and is tamper-proof. EVM and

VVPAT are under the custody of Election Commission of India but budgetary provisions are

routed though Legislative Department. The VVPATs are purchased by the Commission from

the budget grant to Ministry of Law and Justice. However, expenditures on use of VVPATs

viz. First Level Checking of VVPATs, Preparation of VVPATs, Technical support of the

engineers of the manufacturers (BEL/ECIL) etc, in elections are borne by the State

Government in case of State Legislative Assembly election, Central Government in case of

House of the People and 50:50 basis between Central and State Governments in case of

simultaneous elections.


Demands for Grants (2018-19) submitted that it has placed orders for procurement of 16.15

lakh VVPATs machines by September, 2018 for use in upcoming Lok Sabha Election, 2019.

The Government has already sanctioned the project and made provision for necessary funds.

As of now the Commission has received 1.4 lakh (approx) out of the total order. Both PSU’s

have committed to supply the ordered quantities of VVPATs by September, 2018.

TABLE NO. – XIII

Year wise break-up of cost of EVM & VVPAT

Sl. No.

Financial Year

EVM VVPAT EVM (BU & CU) & VVPAT

BU Qty Basic Cost @ Rs.7700/-

CU Qty Basic Cost @ Rs.9300/-

VVPAT Qty

Basic Cost @ Rs.16000/-

Total Basic Cost

1 2 3 4=(3x7700) 5 6=(5x9300) 7 8=(7x16000) 9=(4+6+8)

1 2016-17 550000 4235000000 545000 5068500000 443000 7088000000 16391500000

2 2017-18 410000 3157000000 314000 2920200000 510000 8160000000 14237200000

3 2018-19 435306 3351856200 71716 666958800 662066 10593056000 14611871000

2016-19 1395306 10743856200 930716 8655658800 1615066 25841056000 45240571000

1 http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=159351


27

ELECTORS PHOTO IDENTITY CARDS

4.17. An amount of 100 crores was kept in BE (2018-19) under the head ‘Issue of Photo

Identity Cards to voters’ against 42.34 crore in RE (2017-18).

4.18. With 99.29 percent coverage rate, the scheme of issuing the EPICs is a continuous

and ongoing process and there is no time limit for its completion. For the short fall, the

Commission referred to the problems of coverage in States like Assam, Chhatisgarh, and

Jammu Kashmir etc.

TABLE NO. - XIV

Statement Showing the Status of Epic, 2017

S.No. Name of the State EPIC %

1 Andhra Pradesh 100.00

2 Arunachal Pradesh 99.60

3 Assam 96.21

4 Bihar 100.00

5 Chhattisgargh 97.97

6 Goa 99.71

7 Gujarat 100.00

8 Haryana 100.00

9 Himachal Pradesh 100.00

10 Jammu & Kashmir 92.91

11 Jharkhand 99.79

12 Karnataka 100.00

13 Kerala 100.00

14 Madhya Pradesh 100.00

15 Maharashtra 95.81

16 Manipur 100.00

17 Meghalaya 100.00

18 Mizoram 100.00

19 Nagaland 98.20

20 Orissa 98.15

21 Punjab 100.00

22 Rajasthan 99.13

23 Sikkim 100.00

24 Tamil Nadu 99.91


28

25 Telangana# 100.00

26 Tripura 100.00

27 Uttrakhand 100.00

28 Uttar Pradesh 99.98

29 West Bengal 100.00

30 Andaman & Nicobar Islands 98.88

31 Chandigarh 100.00

32 Dadra and Nagar Haveli 100.00

33 Daman and Diu 100.00

34 National Capital Territory of Delhi 100.00

35 Lakshadweep 100.00

36 Puducherry 100.00

ALL India 99.28

4.19. The Committee appreciates the steps undertaken by the Commission for EPIC

coverage in most of the States of the country. The Committee hopes that the Election

Commission would achieve the target of 100 percent before the next General Election to

Lok Sabha especially in States like Assam, Chhatisgarh and Jammu & Kashmir. The

Committee further recommends the Commission to improve photo quality of the

Elector Voter Identity Card, as in many cases it becomes difficult to recognize person in

the card, which in turn raises the probability of mal-practices during the voting by the

elector.


29

CHAPTER - V

DEMAND NO. 61: DEPARTMENT OF LEGAL AFFAIRS

5.0. The Department of Legal Affairs is a service-oriented Department and the Budget of

the Department is mainly salary-based. It includes expenditure for Branch Secretariats of the

Department, Central Agency Section, Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Law

Commission of India (LCI), payment to Legal Advisers and counsels and grants-in-aid to

Indian Law Institute (ILI).There is no Scheme side allocation. Table No. - VI in Chapter II

provides the budgetary allocations in respect of the constituents of Department of Legal

Affairs for the year 2018-19.

Variation of the Allocations over the Financial year 2017-18

5.1. There is an increase of Rs 3.24 crore in BE 2018-19 over RE 2017-18 and a decrease

of Rs 27.26 crore over BE 2017-18.The Department has submitted the reasons for variation

between RE 2017-18 and BE 2018-19 in respect of the units i.e. Legal Adviser and Counsel,

Law Commission and Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) (Capital) as under:

(a) Legal Adviser and Counsel - There is a decrease of ₹ 12.55 crore (17.90%) in

BE 2018-19 due to settlement of arrear bills of Government Counsel fees in

Supreme Court/High Court during 2017-18.

(b) Law Commission of India - There is a decrease of ₹ 5.07 crore (40.75%) in BE

2018-19 due to less demand in RRT since Law Commission shifted to Lok

Nayak Bhawan. Earlier the office of the Law Commission of India was

accommodated in the premises of Hindustan Times House at 14th Floor, K. G.

Marg, New Delhi, which was rental accommodation @ ₹ 78 lakh (approx.) rent

per month. In the month of July, 2017, the Law Commission of India has been

shifted to Government accommodation (i.e. Lok Nayak Bhawan, Khan Market

New Delhi). Therefore, the funds earlier required for payment of rent, are not

required. There will be no adverse impact on the functioning of Law

Commission due to said reduction in the budget.

(c) Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT)– It had submitted projection of ₹

109.34 crore for BE 2018-19 to Ministry of Finance, which allocated ₹ 90.35

crore only. Therefore,there is a decreased of ₹ 5.99 crore in BE 2018-19 from ₹

96 crore in RE 2017-18.


30

(d) ITAT (Capital) - There is an increase of Rs 39.00 crore in BE 2018-19 mainly

due to ITAT proposal to purchase Building in Delhi from National Building

Construction Company (NBCC).

5.2. Also, the Department of Legal Affairs had proposed 351.94 crore for BE (2018-19)

but received only 289.40 crore, which is a shortfall of 62.54 crore (18%). The Secretary,

Department of Legal Affairs during his deposition before the Committee on Demands for

Grants (2018-19) submitted that the funds allocated in RE 2017-18 are being utilized

satisfactorily, with71.16% of the funds being utilised till 5.02.2018. He apprised the

Committee of the Department’s performance and achievements. In this regard, he also inter

alia, informed that a web portal “Legal Information and Management Based System” has

been launched with the aim to have centralized data regarding court cases by or against the

Union of India and its digital monitoring. It is being implemented in 64 Ministries of the

Government and 208 Departments/attached Offices and it has more than 2.42 lakh cases in its

platform.

Future initiatives

5.3. The Committee was also informed about future initiatives during the Financial Year

2018-19, which include proposed amendment in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996to

promote International Commercial Arbitration, expeditious arbitral award, speedy

appointment of Arbitrator, etc; proposed amendments to the Commercial Courts Commercial

Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015 to expand the scope

of the Commercial adjudication effectively and expeditiously and also to further improve

India’s rank in the World Bank Report on Doing Business; firming up ingredients of National

Litigation Policy including legal audit and litigation impact assessment; formulation of a new

Legal Research & Education Promotion Development Scheme (LREPDS), etc.

Requirement of additional funds

5.4. During the course of the meeting of the Committee on 23rd February, 2018, the

Committee had sought a note from the Department regarding requirement of additional funds.

In response, the Department in its written replies has submitted that it needs more funds for

the following purposes:

(a) To create a dedicated funding mechanism: It has been submitted that it is

crucial to create a dedicated funding mechanism, by way of budgetary support,


31

in the Department to support its outreach and creation of academic, research and

policy data base. Presently, limited fund has been provided for creation of

capital assets and support to establishment expenses of various grantee

institutions in the legal research and education domain. Accordingly, the

Department proposes to formulate a new Legal Research & Education

Promotion Development Scheme (LREPDS), at an initial project cost of approx.

₹ 25 crore per year. The objective of the Scheme is to facilitate (i) creation of

knowledge products through legal policy research studies, survey, data banks,

strengthening of assets and resources in legal training and education areas, etc.,

(ii) dissemination of knowledge through conduct of seminars and conferences,

imparting training to officials in Department of Legal Affairs, etc. to facilitate

development of legal research & education, and (iii) the Scheme also aims to

upgrade LIMBS to ensure effective data sharing, monitoring and curtailment of

legal cases on behalf of the Union of India and its Organisations, Departments,

etc. through Web based applications. In addition, a Cell of ‘National Litigation

Monitoring’ will be constituted to transform the system, which will minimize

the number of litigations, through clubbing of court cases and online dispute

resolution at pre-litigation stage.

(b) Additional funds requirement for ITAT under the Budgetary sub-head

‘Capital Outlay’ in BE 2018-19: The Department has submitted that at present,

construction work of office-cum-residential complex of ITAT, Bengaluru and

Cuttack Benches is going on. Apart from this, CPWD has been requested to

draw estimated proposal for construction of office-cum-residential complex for

ITAT, Lucknow Bench. Further, the Nation Building Construction Company

(NBCC) declared ITAT as successful bidder for purchase of office space at the

proposed World Trade Centre, New Delhi. Total estimate cost of the office

space is Rs 237 crore, out of which Rs 5.00295 crore has been paid and an

amount of Rs 101.3 crore will be required to be paid during the financial year

2018-19. Therefore, the proposed allocation of Rs 70 crore in BE 2018-19 will

not be sufficient and may affect the construction work of ongoing projects.

Since the entire developments for purchasing of office space at the proposed

World Trade Centre, New Delhi took place in January, 2018, this aspect could

not be taken into account while making projection for BE 2018-19 to the


32

Ministry of Finance. The Department has, accordingly, requested that the

allocation may be enhanced from Rs 70 crore to Rs 117crore.

5.5. The Committee notes that the Department proposes to take some steps aimed

towards curtailment of legal cases on behalf of the Union of India and its Organisations,

Departments, etc. and requires budgetary support for the same. The Committee

recognizes that the Government and its various agencies are the predominant litigants

in courts and tribunals in the country. It feels that all necessary steps must be taken to

reduce Government litigation in courts so that valuable court time is spent in resolving

other pending cases so as to reduce average pendency time. In view thereof, the

Committee recommends that adequate budgetary support should be provided to the

Department to formulate and implement the proposed Legal Research & Education

Promotion Development Scheme (LREPDS).

5.6. The Committee also notes that Department in its written replies to the

questionnaire has submitted that at present, there is no specific policy in vogue on

litigation. A ‘National Litigation Policy’ was drafted in the year 2010 but has not been

finalized so far. At present, it is under active consideration of the Government. The

Committee recommends that the ‘National Litigation Policy’ should be finalized and

implemented by the Government on a priority basis to reduce delays and arrears in the

system in order to achieve the objectives of the National Mission for Justice Delivery

and Legal Reforms.

5.7. The Committee observes that Rs 70 crore has been allocated to ITAT under the

Budgetary sub-head ‘Capital Outlay’ in BE 2018-19 but the same will not be sufficient

and may affect the construction work of the ongoing projects. It has an additional

requirement of funds to the tune of Rs 47 crore. The Committee recommends that the

budgetary allocation for acquisition of land and construction of buildings for ITAT

under the Major head 4070 should be enhanced from Rs 70 crore to Rs 117 crore in RE

2018-19 so that their projects are not stalled. The Committee also notes that under this

sub-head, the pace of utilization of funds by ITAT has been slow over the years, leading

to steep reduction of funds at the RE stage. The Budget allocation for 2017-18 was Rs 71

crore, which was reduced at the RE stage to Rs 31 crore. ITAT has been able to utilize

only 43.98% of the funds allocated in RE 2017-18 up to 5th February, 2018. The

Committee, therefore, recommends that the ITAT and the Department should ensure


33

proposed projects timely commence, and there should be strict monitoring of their

progress and the pace of expenditure, so as to avoid fund reduction at the RE stage by

the Ministry of Finance.

Challenges before the Department: Shortage of staff

5.8. The Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs also stated during his deposition before

the Committee that inadequate staff strength is posing a serious challenge before the

Department. He informed that the Department has a total sanctioned strength of 813 posts,

which include Indian Legal Service (ILS), Secretariat Services and other isolated categories.

The post-wise details of vacancy position as on 31st December, 2017 provided by the

Department of Legal Affairs and the remedial action being taken, in respect of (i) Indian

Legal Service (ILS) Cadre (sub-cadres Legal Advisers Service and Government Advocates

Service) is at Annexure I (ii) General Civil Service (GCS) Cadre is at Annexure-II (iii)

Central Secretariat Service (CSS), Central Secretariat Stenographer Service (CSSS), Central

Secretariat Clerical Service (CSCS), Central Secretariat Official Language Service (CSOLS)

and posts of Accountant and Junior Accountant under the GCS Cadres is at Annexure-III.

TABLE NO. – XV

Vacancies in the Department – At a Glance

Sl. No. Cadres Sanctioned strength In-position strength Vacancy

1. ILS cadre 110 69 41 (37.3%)

2. GCS cadre 340 252 88 (25.8%)

3. Other categories 363 289 74 (20.4%)

Total 813 610 203 (24.96%)

5.9. As regards the vacancies in the ILS cadre, the Department of Legal Affairs has

informed that the recruitment to the posts under the ILS is made in accordance with the

provisions of the Indian Legal Service Rules, 1957 as amended from time to time. These

Rules provide for direct recruitment at the level of Grades II (Director level), III (Deputy

Secretary level) and IV (Under Secretary level). However, recruitment at the level of Grades

III and II has been marred by litigation and the Department has not been able to fill vacancies

existing in these grades. As a result, in the Legal Advisers Cadre, there are no Deputy Legal

Advisers (Grade II) appointed on regular basis in the Department and consequently the feeder

cadre for Additional Legal Adviser (Grade III) has no officer. Recently, the Department has

filed an SLP before the Supreme Court challenging the order of the High Court of Delhi


34

related to recruitment in the grade of Deputy Legal Adviser. The Department has submitted

that it is its earnest desire to get the matter decided by the Hon’ble Supreme Court at the

earliest and thereafter get the vacant posts filled to achieve the desired staff strength of ILS

officers.

5.10. The Department has further informed that the vacancies in various grades belonging

to following cadres are filled up on the basis of nominations received from the Departments

mentioned against their names:-

TABLE NO. –XVI

Sl. No. Name of the Cadres Name of the Department from which nominations are received for filling up the vacancies

(i) CSS, CSSS, CSCS Department of Personnel and Training (DoP&T)

(ii) CSOLS Department of Official Language (DoOL)

5.11. The shortage of manpower in the posts belonging to above mentioned cadres is due to

non-receipt of nominations from DoP&T and DoOL. The vacancies in the grades of

Accountant and Junior Accountant belonging to GCS Cadre could not be filled up as the

Recruitment Rules of these posts are being amended. It has been submitted that the

Department has been constantly taking up the matter with the Department of Personnel and

Training and it is likely that some personnel will be posted against the existing vacancies and

the incumbency position will improve. During the deposition of the Secretary, Department of

Legal Affairs, Member-Secretary, Law Commission was also present and he submitted that

there is a shortage of ILS officers in the Commission also and suggested that Recruitment

Rules of ILS officers needs to be revised.

5.12. The Department of Legal Affairs has also informed that it is in the process of making

necessary amendments in the Indian Legal Service Rules, 1957 to provide for direct

recruitment in Grade IV of the Service only and filling up of the posts in the higher grades by

the method of promotion. The proposal for amendments in these Rules is in advanced stage

and is likely to be finalized very soon and thereafter it will be taken up with the Department

of Personnel & Training first and the Union Public Service Commission thereafter. The

process of amendment of these Rules is likely to take some time but once the amendments are

made, it will be possible for the Department to fill up the vacancies in the higher Grades III

and II from amongst those holding posts in Grade IV of the service on regular basis.


35

5.13. The Committee observes that there is an overall shortage of manpower of around

25% in the Department and the situation is even worse in the ILS cadre, where around

37% of the posts are lying vacant. The Committee notes that this is a perennial problem

in the Department and the Committee had recommended for urgent redressal of the

causes responsible for this state of affairs in its Ninety-first Report also. Further, the

Committee infers from the reply of the Department that the remedial actions being

taken by it are not yielding the desired results and there are still huge vacancies existing

in the Department.

5.14. The Committee expresses its serious concern over the acute shortage of officers

in the Department, particularly of the ILS cadre. The ILS officers are the Principal

Legal Advisers to the Government and play a pivotal role in both advisory as well as in

drafting work and their persistent shortage is sure to affect adversely the functioning of

the Government.The Committee, accordingly, recommends that the causes responsible

for this state of affairs should be identified and proactive steps, including expediting the

amendment of the Indian Legal Service Rules, 1957, must be undertaken to fill up the

existing vacancies in a time bound manner. Present pace of efforts to fill up vacancies is

inadequate and an effective mechanism in consultation with the concerned agencies like

DoPT, UPSC and SSC, should be evolved for timely filling of vacancies. The Committee

further suggests that the Department should proactively pursue the court cases for early

decisions. Further, in the Action Taken Replies to this Report, the Committee may be

informed about the timelines for filling up of vacancies in different grades in the

Department.

LAW OFFICERS

5.15. During the deposition of the Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs in the meeting of

the Committee on 23rd February, 2018, he was asked to provide the vacancy position of Law

Officers. The Department in its written replies has submitted that the present

incumbency/vacancy position of Law Officers is that there the post of Solicitor General of

India, is vacant.

5.16. Besides, there are 11 posts of Additional Solicitor General of India (ASG) for the

Supreme Court, out of which currently, 05 of the posts are filled up and proposal for the

appointment to 04 other posts have been referred for approval of the Appointment Committee

of the Cabinet (ACC).


36

5.17. With regards to the position of the Law Officers before the various High Courts, there

are only 12 posts of Additional Solicitor General of India, out of which 10 posts for the High

Courts of Allahabad, Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Karnataka, Madras, Patna, Punjab & Haryana,

Rajasthan and South Zone have been filled up and 02 posts are currently lying vacant for the

High Courts of Jharkhand & Gujarat.

5.18. The Committee observes that of the total sanctioned strength of 25 Law Officers,

9 posts (36%) are presently lying vacant, including the post of Solicitor General of

India, who is second law officer of the country and assists the Attorney General of

India. The Law Officers are entrusted with the responsibility of advising the

Government of India on legal matters referred to them; appearing before the Supreme

Court and any High Court on behalf of the Government of India in cases in which the

Government of India is concerned as a party or is otherwise interested; representing the

Government of India in any reference made by the President to the Supreme Court

under Article 143 of the Constitution; etc. In view of such important duties entrusted to

them, the Committee feels that it is vital for the Government to fill these vacancies

expeditiously so that its functioning is not affected adversely.

INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL (ITAT)

5.19. The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal is a quasi judicial body set up in January, 1941

and specializes in dealing with appeals under the Direct Taxes Act. The orders passed by the

ITAT are final; an appeal lies to the High Court only if a substantial question of law arises for

determination. The ITAT has also introduced use of information technology for early

disposal of appeals by introducing e-court, i.e. hearing through video conferencing.

Strength of Members and Staff

5.20. As per the information available in the Annual Report (2017-18) of the Ministry of

Law and Justice, the sanctioned strength of Members of Tribunal is 126 (including 1 post of

President and 9 posts of Vice President) for 63 Benches, which are spread over 28 cities

throughout the country. However, out of 126 only 96 Members are in position and 30 posts of

Members are vacant. At present,6 posts of Vice-Presidents and 24 of Members are vacant. As

regards shortage of staff, all 7 sanctioned posts of Deputy Registrars are lying vacant. Out of

38 posts of Assistant Registrar, 30 are lying vacant. Further, out of 126 sanctioned posts of


37

Senior Private Secretaries, 32 are lying vacant and out of 47 sanctioned posts of Private

Secretaries, 25 are lying vacant. Besides this, 258 posts are lying vacant in other categories.

5.21. The Annual Report (2017-18) further states that due to vacancy in the posts of

Members, some of the Benches are not functioning regularly, resulting in increase of

pendency. With regard to filing-up of vacancies of Members, the Department of Legal

Affairs in its written replies to the questionnaire of the Committee has submitted that it

proposes to issue necessary advertisement for inviting applications for appointments to the

post of Members (Judicial/Accountant) in the ITAT during this calendar year 2018.

Pendency of Appeals

5.22. The Committee was informed of the pendency of the appeals was 91643, as on 31st

December, 2017. The detailed statement showing year-wise institution, disposal and

pendency in the ITAT since 2004 to 2017 is as under:-

TABLE NO. –XVII

Year Institution Disposal Disposal rate

Pendency at the end of

year

Total no. of

Members

No. of vacant posts

2004-2005 57331 78901 137.6% 137164 90 36

2005-2006 45283 73979 163.3% 108468 97 29

2006-2007 43192 65524 151.7% 86136 97 29

2007-2008 44356 59653 134.4% 70839 99 27

2008-2009 40372 55889 138.4% 55322 100 26

2009-2010 41648 49353 118.5% 47617 89 37

2010-2011 44250 36293 82.01% 55574 81 45

2011-2012 42346 33816 79.8% 64104 88 38

2012-2013 43934 33752 76.8% 74286 84 42

2013-2014 46031 31886 69.3% 88643 77 49

2014-2015 45072 30494 67.7% 103238 69 57

2015-2016 40087 51010 127.2% 91971 94 32

2016-2017 48328 48385 100.1% 92386 101 25

2017-18 Up to

31.12.2017 36384 37678

103.5% 91643 96 30


38

Efforts for Reduction of Pendency

5.23. In their written replies to the questionnaire, the Department of Legal Affairs has

informed that it had reviewed the reasons for increasing pendency in the ITAT and observed

that the average disposal rate of appeals by each Member of the ITAT was above 70 during

the year 2004-05, which later came below 40. In this regard, the Department had requested

ITAT to take necessary steps to increase monthly disposal rates by each Member of the

Tribunal. During the current financial year 2017-18 (up to 31.12.2017), ITAT has disposed of

37678 appeals. The data reveals that during the 9 months of this financial year, an average of

50 appeals have been disposed of by each Member of the Tribunal.

5.24. The Department of Legal Affairs has further submitted that in the ITAT Vice-

Presidents Conference held on 8th& 9thSeptember, 2017 at ITAT, New Delhi, following

decisions were taken to improve the rate of disposal of appeals and stay granted matters.

(i) Improvement in the disposal of appeals:-It has been decided that all the

Members should give the required disposal, i.e. 50 appeals per month and the

Vice-Presidents or the Senior Members of the respective zones should ensure

that Members in their zones give requisite disposals of appeals.

(ii) To ensure disposal of stay granted matters within a period of 180 days for

which stay is granted:-It has been decided that the stay granted appeals

should be disposed of within a period of six months and the adjournments in

stay granted matters should not be given for more than a month. All efforts

should be made to dispose of the stay granted matters within the prescribed

period. It was also decided that constitution of regular Benches should be

framed for the whole week i.e. five days and the stay applications should be

heard by the respective Bench on Friday.

(iii) Sending of regular touring benches at non-functional benches:-It has been

decided that the touring Benches should be sent to all non-functional Benches

regularly, so that pendency of appeals in such Benches does not pile up.

5.25. The Department has also informed that the Appellate Tribunal has instructed all its

Benches to scrutinize and identify the cases which are covered by decisions of ITAT, High

Courts and the Supreme Court and to post them on priority basis. The Bars have also been

requested to bring to the notice of ITAT, all such covered cases for out of turn posting.

Besides, Search & Seizure cases and Appeals u/s 263 are also being given priority in their


39

disposal. Further, vide Finance Act 2016 an amendment in Income Tax Act, 1961 has been

made that the appeal involving assessed income upto Rs.50 lakhs can be heard by Single

Member Bench and accordingly the same has been implemented. The pendency figure of

Single Member cases was 13,978 in January, 2017, which has come down to 8379 in

December, 2017. The ITAT has also introduced use of information technology for early

disposal of appeal by introducing e-court, i.e. hearing through video conferencing. All these

steps have proven effective to reduce the pendency of appeal in ITAT.

5.26. As per the Annual Report (2017-18) of the Ministry of Law and Justice, presently

there are 6 Benches functioning through E-Court, viz. New Delhi(Zonal Office), Ahmedabad

(Zonal Office), Kolkata (Zonal Office), Jabalpur Bench, Rajkot Bench and Guwahati Bench.

Bench proceedings were conducted at ITAT Rajkot, Jabalpur Bench and Guwahati Bench

connecting to ITAT, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Kolkata Benches, respectively. Up to 31st

December, 2017, a total of 1273 appeals were disposed of at ITAT, Ahmedabad, 32 at ITAT,

Delhi and 146 at ITAT, Kolkata Benches. Further, development of E-Court in respect of 11

more ITAT Benches is under process.

5.27. The Committee observes that as per the data provided by the Department, a

large number of vacancies exist in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal across the board.

This is a long standing issue and is a matter of serious concern, particularly with respect

to vacancies in the post of Members of the Tribunal. The Committee fails to understand

why no solution has been found to deal effectively with this problem even after so many

years. The Department has itself admitted that due to vacancy in the posts of Members,

some of the Benches are not functioning regularly, resulting in increased pendency. The

Committee expresses its dismay over this state of affairs and urges the Government to

analyse the causes responsible for the perennial problem of shortage of manpower in

the Tribunal and take immediate remedial measures to fill the vacancies in a time

bound manner so that the Tribunal functions optimally. Also, in the Action Taken

Replies on the recommendations contained in this Report, the Department should

submit a roadmap for filling of vacancies in the post of Members well in time to ensure

that all the Benches of the Tribunal can function regularly.

5.28. The Committee notes that between 2004-05 and 2009-10, the disposal rate was

much higher than the number of cases instituted. The trend reversed between 2010-11

and 2014-15. Then again from 2015-16 onwards the rate of disposal has been higher


40

than the institution rate, as a result of which pendency has come down from more than

1 lakh cases in 2014-15 to around 92,000 cases as on the 31stDecember, 2017. The

Committee observes that though, with the existing strength of Members, the pendency is

not growing but a huge backlog of cases continues to exist, which is a cause of serious

concern. The Committee has been informed of the series of measures being taken by the

Tribunal to reduce pendency of cases and that in this financial year up to 31st

December, 2017, an average of 50 appeals have been disposed of by each Member of the

Tribunal, which though is an improvement but is not commensurate with the disposal

rate of the year 2004-05. The Committee is of the view that the existing rate of disposal

is not likely to make a major dent in the backlog cases and without improving

incumbency of Members, the pendency situation is likely to remain grim. Besides, there

could be other factors also contributing to the pendency in the Tribunal. The

Committee recommends that the Department should undertake a comprehensive cause

analysis exercise for this state of affairs and take remedial measures urgently so that the

pendency shows substantial improvement and the Tribunal truly lives up to its motto of

‘Nishpaksh Sulabh Satvar Nyay’, which means impartial, easy and speedy justice. In

the Action Taken Replies to this Report, the Committee would like to be apprised of the

findings of the above exercise and the impact of the measures being taken by the

Tribunal, as stated above, to reduce pendency.

INDIAN LAW INSTITUTE

5.29. The Indian Law Institute (ILI) is a premier legal research institute setup in 1956 to

promote and conduct legal research. The objectives of the Institute as laid down in its

Memorandum of Association are to cultivate the science of law, to promote advanced studies

and research in law so as to meet the social, economic and other needs of the Indian people,

to promote systematization of law, to encourage and conduct investigations in legal and allied

fields, to improve legal education, to impart instructions in law, and to publish studies, books,

periodicals, etc.

5.30. The Institute is an autonomous body registered under the Societies Registration Act,

1860. The membership of the Institute is now over three thousand, representing the persons

interested in the study and advancement of law. Hon'ble Chief Justice of India is the ex-

officio President of the Institute. The Union Minister of Law & Justice is its Ex-officio Vice-

President. The Attorney General for India, some Judges of the Supreme Courts and High


41

Courts, Solicitor General of India, Chairman, Law Commission and University Grant

Commission and other prominent lawyers and law professors etc. are the members of the

Governing Council. The Institute was granted Deemed University status in the year 2004 and

during the same period it started LLM programme. Besides PhD in Law and LLM,

programmes on Alternative Dispute Resolution, Corporate Laws & Management, Cyber Law

and Intellectual Property Rights laws are conducted by ILI. The Institute has also been

awarded the accreditation rating of ‘A Grade’ by the National Assessment and Accreditation

Council (NAAC) in March, 2017.

5.31. The Institute receives a recurring grant from the Department of Legal Affairs to meet

its establishment related expenses and it also generates some funds on its own through course

fees, membership fees, sale of publications, etc. It is proposed to provide grants-in-aid of Rs

3 crore in BE 2018-19, which is an increase of Rs 1 crore over BE 2017-18. The Director, ILI

during the Demands for Grants (2018-19) submitted before the Committee that since it is the

only institute of legal research in the country, it may be accorded the status of ‘Institute of

National Importance’. However, the Department of Legal Affairs in their reply to the

questionnaire of the Committee submitted that the grant of status of Institute of National

Importance to ILI requires holistic examination of various impacting factor, inter alia,

including availability of adequate assets and resources in terms of academic research and

infrastructure, and the same would be undertaken in concert with ILI.

5.32. Further, in its written submission to the questionnaire of the Committee, ILI has

informed that the total sanctioned strength of the Teaching staff in the Institute is 19, out of

which 8 posts were lying vacant as on 17th January, 2018 and in the Non-teaching staff, 41

post are lying vacant out of the sanctioned strength of 81 employees. It has also been

submitted that the present strength of teaching and non-teaching staff is sufficient to meet the

requirement of the Institute, as it is running only one batch of LLM (One Year) programme

along with four Evening Diploma Courses and Ph.D. programme. It has further been

informed that the number of courses was reduced due to more emphasis on research activities

of the Institute, which is the main objective of the Institute.

5.33. The Committee in its Seventy-fifth, Ninety-first and Ninety-fourth Reports had

recommended that ILI should move towards making itself financially independent from

Government grants. In response to the query regarding steps taken by the Institute to make

itself self-sustainable, the Institute has replied in writing that its main objective is to promote


42

and conduct legal research and due to more emphasis on research activities of the Institute, it

is not in a position to generate more revenue by introducing any new academic programme.

5.34. The Committee applauds the Indian Law Institute for the quality legal research

work being done by it. However, the Committee fails to appreciate the reluctance of the

Institute to become fully self-sustainable even after six decades of its establishment and

more than a decade after being granted deemed university status. The Committee notes

that there has been a persistent shortage of Teaching and Non-teaching staff in the

Institute but in the year 2017-18, only the post of Librarian was advertised. The

Committee notes with dismay that the Institute in not making any serious efforts to fill

vacant positions and is content to work with the existing staff strength. It is not inclined

to introduce more academic programmes and has also informed that it has reduced the

number of courses offered for greater emphasis on research activities. The Committee

feels that the Institute will not be deviating from its objective of promoting and

conducting legal research by expanding its academic activities. On the contrary, it will

be fulfilling its objective, which is also to promote the improvement of legal education,

and to impart instruction in law and allied fields. The Committee reiterates that the

vacant positions in ILI should be filled-up immediately so that it is able to expand its

activities and move in the direction of becoming a self-sustaining Institute, and avoid

being a permanent drag on public funds. However, Government funds may continue to

be provided for a limited period till it becomes fully self-sustained. As regards the

request of the Institute that it may be accorded the status of ‘Institute of National

Importance’, the Committee recommends that the Department of Legal Affairs should

examine the issue and share its opinion with the Committee.

NOTARIES APPOINTMENT

5.35. The administration of the Notaries Act, 1952 and the Notaries Rules, 1956 are within

the purview of the Notary Cell of the Department of Legal Affairs. As per the Schedule under

Rule 8(4A) of the Notaries Rules, 1956, Central Government has fixed the quota of

maximum number of Notaries to be appointed by the Central Government as well as

maximum number of Notaries to be appointed by State/UT Government. Central Government

enhances the quota allotted to State Governments on receipt of request for the purpose from

the State Government concerned. The Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs during the


43

meeting of the Committee on the Demands for Grants (2018-19) submitted that in the year

2017, 224 Notaries were appointed and 2249 Notaries Certificates were renewed.

Appointment /Renewal procedure of Notaries

5.36. The Department in its written replies to the questionnaire of the Committee and

queries raised by the Members of the Committee during it meeting held on 23rd February,

2018 has informed that the applications for appointment as Notary are not invited by issuing

advertisement as the Notaries Act and the Notaries Rules framed thereunder do not provide

for issuance of advertisement. The interested candidates apply suo moto for the notoryship.

From 01.01.2016, online application system for appointment as notary has been introduced

and an advocate aspiring to be a Notary is now required to apply online.

5.37. All the submitted applications are examined by the Competent authority, who is

appointed by the Central Government and is an Officer of the Indian Legal Service. The

Competent authority rejects the application in case the applicant does not possess the

qualification specified in Rule 3 or if any previous application of the applicant for

appointment as Notary was rejected within 6 months before the application and the applicant

is informed accordingly.

5.38. If the application is not rejected and is complete in all respects, then a letter is issued

to the concerned Bar Council requesting to confirm whether the name of the said advocate is

still borne on the roll of the advocates maintained by it and that no disciplinary proceedings

are pending against the applicant. The applicant is also requested to submit an affidavit

deposing that he/she is neither a notary appointed by any State Government nor his/her

application is pending with the concerned State Government. After receipt of the

confirmation from the Bar Council and the affidavit from the applicant, the Competent

Authority places it before the concerned Interview Board constituted by the Central

Government. On receipt of the recommendation of the Interview Board, the appropriate

Government considers the recommendations and either the application is allowed for the

whole or any part of the area to which it relates or it is rejected.

5.39. If the application is allowed, then an appointment letter for depositing the prescribed

fee of Rs 2000/- for issue of Certificate of Practice is issued to the applicant. On receipt of the

fees, the certificate is prepared and issued to the applicant by the Competent Authority, with a

validity of 5 years. Further, Rule 8B of the Notaries Rules provides for renewal of


44

Certificate of Practice for a further period of 5 years on the payment of prescribed

fees of Rs 1000/-. It stipulates that any application for renewal of certificate of practice

shall be submitted before six months of its expiry. However, Government may after

considering the reasons stated in the application, relax the condition of submission

of application for renewal of certificate of practice before the specified period.

Composition of the Interview Board

5.40. In its written reply to the questionnaire, the Department of Legal Affairs has informed

that under Rule 7A (2) of the Notaries Rules, the appropriate Government is empowered to

constitute one or more Interview Boards from amongst its officers dealing with legal matters

and the Chairperson of every Interview Board is an officer not below the rank of Joint

Secretary or Law Officer of the Government concerned.

Criteria for assessment of candidates by the Interview Board

5.41. The Department has informed that it has issued Guidelines to be followed by the

Interview Board for conducting interviews, as per which while selecting the candidates for

appointment as notaries, the Board shall ensure that the percentage in respect of the following

categories’ of candidates shown against each of them is maintained as far as possible:

Scheduled Caste (15%), Schedule Tribe (7 1/2%), Other Backward Class (27%), Women

(33%), Physically challenged (3%), Minorities (4%) and weightage should be given to

candidates above 65 years. It has also been submitted that as per Section 34 of the Rights of

Persons with Disability Act, the reservation percentage has been enhanced from 3% to 4%

with regard to physically challenged persons and the same is required to be provided in the

existing Guidelines.

5.42. The Department has further submitted that the present system of selection is based on

awarding of marks for different areas of competence as the Interview Board awards marks to

the applicant by accessing their knowledge in certain areas, i.e. the Notaries Act, 1952 (20

marks), the Commercial Law/Negotiable Instruments Act,1881/Indian Stamp Act, 1899, etc.

(20 marks), the Constitution of India (20 marks), the Advocates Act, 1961 (10 marks), and

also field/area of practice at the Bar (20 marks) and age & length of practice at Bar (10

marks).


45

Time limit for issue of Certificates

5.43. The Department has informed that the Notaries Act, 1952 and the Notaries Rules,

1956 do not provide for any time limit to be adhered by the Department to issue Certificate of

Practice/Renewal of Certificate of Practice. However, fresh Certificates as well as renewed

Certificates of the Notaries are issued on priority basis. It has also been informed that the

Department is in the process of establishing an Electronic Service Division which is proposed

to cater to the requirement of providing online platform for various interaction with the public

and Departments. Once this facility becomes operational, the possibility for making notaries

appointments and renewal procedure on-line can be explored.

Vacancy position

5.44. The Department in its written replies to the questionnaire has provides State/UT-wise

Government Central quota of notaries along with number of notaries appointed and available

vacancies as under:

TABLE NO. - XVIII

Sl. No.

States Quota of Notaries

No. of Notaries appointed

Available vacancies

1 Andhra Pradesh 865 412 453

2 Assam 575 02 573

3 Bihar 925 61 864

4 Gujarat 1760 1678 82

5 Kerala 1000 635 365

6 Madhya Pradesh 1125 74 1051

7 Tamil Nadu 1360 886 474

8 Maharashtra 3700 2251 1449

9 Karnataka 1266 1126 140

10 Odisha 750 24 726

11 Punjab 1197 993 204

12 Rajasthan 1500 1204 296

13 Uttar Pradesh 2188 1840 348

14 West Bengal 450 176 274

15 Jammu & Kashmir 350 - 350

16 Nagaland 200 - 200


46

17 Haryana 1338 1099 239

18 Himachal Pradesh 300 04 446

19 Manipur 225 - 225

20 Tripura 100 12 88

21 Meghalaya 175 - 175

22 Sikkim 100 - 100

23 Mizoram 200 - 200

24 Arunachal Pradesh 325 - 325

25 Goa 63 14 49

26 Uttarakhand 325 35 290

27 Chhattisgarh 400 12 388

28 Jharkhand 450 14 436

29 Delhi 1000 540 460

30 Andaman & Nicobar 50 - 50

31 Lakshadweep 25 - 25

32 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 25 - 25

33 Daman & Diu 50 - 50

34 Pondicherry 100 96 4

35 Chandigarh 108 99 9

5.45. During the deposition before the Committee on 23rd February, 2018, the Secretary,

Department of Legal Affairs had informed that there are 13,500 notaries working throughout

India under the Central Government quota. It was also stated that the reason for the large

number of vacancies is that less number of applications are received from many places,

particularly North Eastern States. The Members had raised various queries on the issue of

existence of huge vacancies in the Notaries. In the written replies to the queries of Members,

the Department has informed that there is a sharp increase in fresh applications for

appointment as Notary Public from the States of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,

Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Delhi. The Department

has constraints of space and staff strength, etc. and this comes in the way of smooth and

expeditious conduct of interviews at regular intervals. The Department has informed that it

takes almost 2-3 years’ time for selection after conducting interviews. However, the

Department has stated that it is trying its best to ensure that the appointment of Notaries

against the existing vacancies are finalised within the least possible time. It may also examine

the need for advertising the vacancies in order to expedite their filling up. It has also been


47

informed that a proposal for conducting interviews for appointment of Notaries for North

Eastern states, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar Jharkhand and Rajasthan from 3rd April, 2018 to

20th April, 2018 has been approved by the Competent Authority.

5.46. The Committee is of the view that Notaries are an important link in the judicial

system and provide cost effective services to public for various basic services viz.,

verification, authentication, certification of documents etc. in the country. The

Committee is, therefore, despondent to note that nation-wide more than 5000 vacancies

of Notaries exist under the Central Government quota. The data shows that 11

States/UTs do not have a single notary appointed and in most other States/UTs also,

there are huge vacancies. However, the Government is not taking any proactive

measures to fill them. The vacancies are not even advertised and the interested

candidates need to apply suo motu for the notaryship. Further, the Committee also

observes that the entire process of appointment of Notaries from application stage to

issue of Certificate of Practice takes an inordinate time; from interview to selection

alone, this period is almost 2-3 years. This state of affairs is completely unacceptable

and the Department should take immediate action to remedy the problem, starting by

advertising all the vacancies. Further, a reasonable time frame should be decided to

complete the entire process of selection of notaries and issue of Certificate of Practice.

The renewal of Certificate of Practice should also be done in a time bound manner. Just

because the Notaries Act, 1952 and Notaries Rules, 1956 do not prescribe specific time

limit for the exercise, it does not mean that the Department can unduly delay the entire

process, thereby causing hardship to the common people. The Committee recommends

that the Department should take immediate measures, including the ones suggested

above, to fill the existing vacancies in the notaries in a timely manner. The Committee

would like to be apprised of the progress made in this regard in the Action Taken

Replies of the Department to this Report.


48

CHAPTER - VI

DEMAND NO. 61: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

6.0. The Budget of the Department, which was salary oriented (till 1992-93), now has the

provision of both Scheme and Non-Scheme Expenditures. The Department facilitates

administration of justice, ensures easy access and timely delivery of Justice to all, implements

the National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms, monitors development of

judicial infrastructure through a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, facilitating ICT-enablement

and connectivity of courts, formulates and implements Policies for Judicial reforms,

facilitates the National Judicial Academy as a resource centre, etc. The Department of Justice

has sought allocation of 1240.83 crore in BE (2018-19), out of which 1127.00 crore is

on the Scheme side and 113.83 is for Non-Scheme expenditure. The detailed budgetary

provisions of the Department of Justice are given in Tables VIII & IX in Chapter II of the

Report.

SCHEMES OF THE DEPARTMENT AND BUDGETARY ALLOCATIONS FOR

THEM

6.1. The Scheme allocation of 1127 crore is under the two scheme heads - Central

Sector Scheme of National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms and Centrally

Sponsored Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for the Judiciary, including

Gram Nyayalayas.

Central Sector Scheme of National Mission for Justice Delivery

6.2. A total allocation of Rs 497 crore is proposed in BE 2018-19 for the Central Sector

Scheme of National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms which includes

allocations for E-Courts Project Phase - II, Action Research and Studies on Judicial

Reforms,Access to Justice - Govt. of India (NE & JK).There is an increase of Rs 64.50 crore

and Rs 109.80 crore for the Central Sector Scheme over BE 2017-18 and RE 2017-18,

respectively, mainly due to increase in budgetary allocation under e-Court Phase-II from Rs

416 crore in BE 2017-18 to Rs 480 crore in BE 2018-19.


49

(a) E-Courts Mission Mode Project (MMP)

6.3. The e-Courts Integrated Mission Mode Project (e-Courts IMMP) is one of the

National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) projects, being implemented for the Information &

Communication Technology (ICT) enablement and computerization of the District &

Subordinate courts in the country. Initiated in the year 2010, the Phase-I of e-Courts IMMP,

while accomplishing its set targets and timelines with a good success rate, concluded at a

total cost of Rs 639.144 crores. At the end of Phase-I in 2015, of the total target of 14,249

Districts and Subordinate courts were computerized and sites for all other courts have been

made ready for computerization. This has enabled the courts to upload the case status and

orders online. Status of cases and copies of judgments have also been made available on the

websites of the respective District and Subordinate Courts.

6.4. Out of financial outlay of ₹ 1,670 crores for the period 2015-19, a sum of ₹ 921.75

crores has so far been released by the Government under Phase II. During the current

financial year 2017-18, an amount of Rs 356.97 crore has been released to all High Courts

and National Informatics Centre as of January, 2018. Key features of the Project include

provisioning of basic infrastructure for Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

enablement of district and subordinate courts, which consists of various modules, primarily

such as computer hardware, Local Area Network (LAN), internet connectivity and

installation of standard application software at district and subordinate courts. As on date, the

Department of Justice has completed ICT enablement of 16,089 district and subordinate

courts across the country under the e-Courts project. Video conferencing facility has also

been operationalized between 488 court complexes and 342 corresponding prisons during the

period 2015-17. Judicial proceedings/ decisions of computerized district and subordinate

courts of the country are available on the e-Courts portal (http://www.ecourts.gov.in). e-

Courts services such as details of case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders, and

final judgments are made available to litigants and advocates through SMS (Push and Pull),

email, web, mobile application and Judicial Service Centers. The Department has submitted

that the evaluation of the e-Courts Project is in process. The Request for Proposal (RPF)

document is prepared and has been sent to e-Committee, Supreme Court of India for

comments.

6.5. The Department of Justice in its written replies to the Committee on the Demands for

Grants (2018-19) apprised of the achievements of the Project as under:-


50

� Computerisation of district and subordinate courts: Computerisation of 16,089

district and subordinate courts across the country under the eCourts project has been

completed, through provisioning of computer hardware, Local Area Network (LAN),

internet connectivity and installation of standard application software in district and

subordinate courts.

� National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG): Apart from providing online information such

as details of case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders, etc., the NJDG

portal provides information and access to judicial proceedings/ decisions of 16,089

computerized district and subordinate courts with respect of over 8.86 crore cases and

more than 5.24 crore orders / judgments pertaining to these courts. In its written

replies to the queries of the Members of the Committee, the Department has further

informed that NJDG is a grid of case databases of all court complexes. Besides, it

provides a variety of information to the litigants and judicial administration at various

levels for Case Management and Court Management. The Judicial administration of

High Courts and District Courts can make use of it for policy planning on cases and

Court management, equal and sufficient work to judicial officers, planning for more

courts, human resources, infrastructure, etc. It has features to evaluate judges’

performance.

� Video Conferencing between Court Complexes and Jails: The desktop based

Video Conferencing (VC) infrastructure was established at 488 court complexes and

342 jails in Phase I of the Project. The process establishing this facility at the

remaining 2768 Court Complexes and 958 Jails has been initiated. The VC facility

has been initialised for pilot use in routine remand of under-trial prisoners and for

recording evidence in some specific cases.

� Judicial Service Centres (JSC): Judicial Service Centres (JSC) have been

established at all computerized courts to serve as a single window for filing petitions

and applications by litigants/ lawyers, and for obtaining information on ongoing cases

and copies of orders and judgments etc.

� Mobile Application for E-Courts: E-Courts mobile app with the facility of QR Code

was launched on 22.07.2017. for use of litigants and lawyers. Services under different

captions viz. Search by CNR, Case Status, Cause List and My Cases are available on

this app. With its availability on both Google Play and Apple Store, the total number

of downloads have crossed over 4.43 lakhs.


51

� SMS & e-Mail based Case Information Services: A new and more user friendly

version CIS 2.0 has been developed and deployed at all the computerized courts.

Furthermore, the facility of providing case information service(s) through SMS has

also been implemented. The case details can be obtained by sending unique CNR

(Case Number Record) number to 9766899899 through SMS. Cause lists,

judgements, case status etc. can be received in the litigants’ mailbox on registration of

email address.

� Process Re-Engineering: Process Reengineering exercises are underway to

modernize the existing processes and procedures to expedite disposal of cases. The

objective is to prepare simplified model rules and court procedures (Civil and

Criminal) for around 70-80 existing court processes and procedures that have already

been identified.

� Project Management: Acknowledging the need of international exposure, an

initiative under the project was taken to equip 28 Judicial Officers in-tune with global

best practices by organizing a two week Residential training program at University of

California, Berkeley. A week long executive program on Project Management for 36

Project Coordinators of various High Courts under the e-Courts Project was

conducted during October, 2017 at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

� E-filing Application for High Courts and District Courts: An eFiling application

for High Courts and District Courts to enable the advocates, petitioners-in-person,

etc., to file their cases on-line (at any time) was launched in December 2017. The

advanced features of online payment and SMS & Email alerts are under the process

and are expected to be released shortly.

6.6. The Department in its written submissions has also informed that the targets and

financial estimates for Phase-II of e-Courts MMP for financial year 2018-19 are as under:

TABLE NO. - XIX

Targets and financial estimates for Phase II of eCourts MMP for FY 2018-19

Sl. No.

Component Amounts Justification

In Rs.Cr

1. Computerisation of courts (Procurement and installation of Hardware and LAN)

268.34 Computers and LAN installation in courts

2. Technical infrastructure for Court Complexes

148.35 For process servers, site preparation and kiosks.


52

3. Cloud Connectivity 29.61 Out of total estimated amount of ₹ 73 crores allotted for cloud connectivity, an amount of Rs.43.4 cr has been released and the remaining amount is proposed to be released in the fourth year of the Project.

4. WAN Connectivity in all Court Complexes

209.18 Based on the bandwidth requirement of Courts assessed by a duly constituted technical committee, BSNL submitted a revised estimated amount of ₹ 194.29 cr out of which ₹ 22.13 cr has already been released to North Eastern States including Sikkim.

5. Solar Energy in 41 Court Complexes 6.59 41 Court Complexes are proposed to be equipped with solar energy equipment, at the cost of Rs.15 lakhs per court complexes

6. Software Development 33.98

For manpower at SDU, Pune, NIC headquarters and software development and technical support team for Central Project Coordinators (CPCs)

7. Change Management 13.21 For training of Judicial Officers, Court staff and other stake holders.

8. Judicial Process Reengineering 19.74 Judicial Process Reengineering is an ongoing exercise. The High Courts have submitted reports for processes to be reengineered.

9. Judicial Knowledge Management System (JKMS)

19.28 For implementation of various components of JKMS such as Integrated Library Management System and Analysis tools

TOTAL 748.28

6.7. 480 crore is allocated for E-Court Phase-II in BE 2018-19, which is an increase of

109.8 crore over RE (2017-18). The Department has informed that the reason for the

increased allocation is that all the components and activities not undertaken during the first

three years of the project, are proposed to be taken up in the fourth and final year of the

project, i.e. 2018-19.

6.8. The Department in its written submissions has stated that the utilization of funds

allocated during 2017-18 is only 7.51%. The Department in its reply to the questionnaire has

submitted that the funds were released to the High Courts only after May, 2017. High Courts

are in varying levels of progress in terms of expenditure and are in advanced stages of

procurement. The e-Committee, Supreme Court of India and the Department of Justice are

making efforts to understand the bottlenecks, facilitate solutions and increase utilization of

funds released to the High Courts, through video conferencing with State Governments and

High Courts.


53

6.9. The Department has further informed that it has been allocated Rs 268 crore less than

its projection of 748.28 crore in BE (2018-19). The Department is of the view that this

would adversely affect the implementation of important components such as Wide Area

Network, Cloud connectivity and software development. The impact due to shortfall, is likely

to be on all other components, especially Technical infrastructure for Court Complexes,

Hardware and LAN procurement and installation. This will result in non-computerisation or

partial computerization of some of the courts which are laggards. It has also been submitted

that the component of digitization is given in the Action Plan Document but for District and

Taluka courts, funds were not allocated. E-Summons solution requires the summons to be

served along with copies of pleadings and documents. For aforementioned solution,

digitization is pre-requisite before uploading. Apart from this, there is agreat need for

digitization of records at District and Taluka Courts for seamless flow of documents from one

Court to another Court or Higher Court. Reduced allocation of funds would hamper

completion of above activities.

6.10. The e-Courts Mission Mode Project is being implemented to put in place a

justice delivery system with efficiency, accessibility, affordability and is also more

transparency. The Committee notes that there is a shortfall of 268 crore in BE 2018-

19 allocations for this Project. Inadequate funding would adversely affect the

implementation of important components of the Project, leading to delays in its

completion. The Committee, therefore, recommends that adequate funds may be

provided for the Project so that it is not stalled and accomplishes its set targets and

timelines. The Committee, further, recommends that periodic evaluation of the project

be carried out so as to make timely intervention, if any, needed for completion of the

project, as scheduled.

6.11. The Committee is apprised that the National Judicial Data Grid provides a

variety of information to the litigants and judicial administration at various levels for

Case Management and Court Management. The judicial administration of High Courts

and District Courts can make use of it for policy planning on cases and Court

management, equal and sufficient work to judicial officers, planning for more courts,

human resources, infrastructure, etc. It has features to evaluate judges’ performance.

The Committee feels that this could potentially be an important breakthrough for

judicial administration at various levels. The Committee suggests that the Department


54

should constitute a suitable body to analyse the data and put it to use so that the Grid

serves the purpose of unclogging the system.

(b) Scheme of Action Research and Studies on Judicial Reforms

6.12. A Plan Scheme for Action Research and Studies on Judicial Reforms was formulated

by the Department of Justice in September, 2013 with necessary approval of Standing

Finance Committee. The objective of the Scheme is to promote action research and studies in

the field of Judicial Reforms. The objective is wide enough to include each and every aspect

of legal and judicial matters of justice delivery in order to cover the broader object of the

National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms, viz. the objectives of increasing

access by reducing delays and arrears in the system and enhancing accountability through

structural changes and by setting performance standards and improving capacities.

6.13. Under the scheme, financial assistance upto 25 lakh is provided to the eligible

implementing agencies for the projects/activities in the fields of Justice Delivery, Legal

Research and Judicial Reforms. In exceptional cases, where the scope of the Project is

sufficiently wide, sample size is large and Project is for longer duration, the Project

Sanctioning Committee (PSC) may relax this ceiling. The eligible implementing agencies are

Indian Institute of Public Administration, Administrative Staff College of India, Indian

Institutes of Management, Indian Law Institute, National Law Universities, National Council

of Applied Economic Research, National Judicial Academy, State Judicial Academies and

other reputed institution working in the field of justice delivery, Legal research and judicial

reforms.So far, 24 projects have been approved by the Project Sanctioning Committee and

2.33 crore has been released to such research institutes; final Reports have been received in

ten projects.

6.14. An amount of Rs 2 crore has been sought for the scheme in BE 2018-19, which is

the same as BE 2017-18 and an increase of 0.74 crore over RE (2017-18).Up to 21.02.2018,

1.06 crore has been utilized, which is 84.1% of RE 2017-18.

(c) Access to Justice in North Eastern States and Jammu and Kashmir

(A2JNE&JK) project

6.15. The Department of Justice has implemented a project on “Access to Justice in North

Eastern States and Jammu and Kashmir” under the Twelfth Five Year Plan. It’s being


55

implemented in the eight states of North East (including Sikkim) and in Jammu & Kashmir at

the total cost of 30 crore for five years from 2012-2017. Moreover, the project received

extension for three years from 1st April, 2017 to 31st March, 2020, and the budget for the new

phase is 46 crore. The objectives of the project are as follow:

• To address the legal needs of the marginalized and vulnerable sections of the

society, particularly women, children, Scheduled Castes, Tribal communities

who do not have the requisite means to ensure that their rights are guaranteed.

• To support justice delivery systems in improving their capacities to serve the

people and in empowering the ordinary people to demand improved services and

to access their rights and entitlements.

• To support innovative activities to enhance legal awareness of the vulnerable

populations and their ability to seek redress.

• To support Legal Services Authorities in providing legal aid and legal

empowerment of the marginalized in the nine project states.

• The project is being steered in the 9 States including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,

Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Jammu &

Kashmir.

6.16 The work of third party evaluation was carried out by National Productivity Council.

The institute evaluated the physical and financial progress/performance of the Scheme during

the twelfth Five year Plan. It was successfully completed and it was recommended to

continue A2J NEJK Scheme to benefit far flung areas of North Eastern States and Jammu &

Kashmir.

6.17. 15 crore has been sought for the scheme in BE 2018-19, which an increase of Rs

7.5 crore and 11.06 crore over BE 2017-18 and RE 2017-18, respectively. Up to 21st

February, 2018, 3.94 crore has been utilized, which is 100% of RE 2017-18. The

Department has informed that the project is doing well in raising awareness of people in the

North Eastern areas. Legal aid clinics have been opened in various States and also legal

literacy programmes have been planned for deeper legal empowerment. The project has

gained momentum with the present activities and the increased budget has been allocated to

maintain the momentum.


56

6.18. The Department has also informed that the amount allocated in BE 2018-19 is Rs 3.5

crore less than the projection of 18.5 crore made to the Ministry of Finance. The increased

allocation was sought for New Legal Aids Clinics and Legal Awareness activities. The

reduced allocations will lead to reduction of number of legal aid clinics, capacity building

workshops and production and dissemination of Information, Education & Communication

materials.

TABLE NO. - XX

The trend of utilization of funds for the Scheme

(Rs. in crore)

FY B.E R.E Expenditure Utilization

(in %)

2015-16 7.00 6.43 3.29 47.00

2016-17 7.00 7.00 5.82 83.14

2017-18 7.5 3.94 2.43** 61.00

6.19. The Department has submitted that the first phase (2012-17) of the project was

completed on 31st March, 2017. So the activities got completed and there was no expenditure.

New proposals could not be taken up until the project extension was approved by Secretary

(J) which was received on 17th November, 2017.

6.20. The Committee observes that though the allocation for the Project in BE 2018-19

has been doubled from that in BE 2017-18; however, there is still a shortfall of Rs 3.5

crore from the projected amount. The reduced allocation may impact the activities

proposed in the project in FY 2018-19, which centre around developing capacities of

marginalized people to secure justice and supporting justice delivery organisations in

serving people better. The Committee, therefore, recommends that adequate funds

should be made available at RE stage for the Project in FY 2018-19 so that the activities

proposed under the Project are not hampered.

Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for the Judiciary, including establishment of Gram Nyayalayas

6.21 The primary responsibility for development of judicial infrastructure in the State rests

with the State Governments. The Central Government augments the resources of the State

Governments by providing financial assistance under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS)

for development of infrastructure facilities for Judiciary. The scheme has been in place since


57

1993-94, and was revised in the year 2011. It covers the construction of court buildings and

residential accommodations of judicial officers of District and Subordinate Judiciary. It is

included as one of the Core Scheme in the National Development Agenda for realizing

‘VISION 2022’.

6.22 Funding Pattern: Until 2011, the Central and State Governments used to contribute

an equal share under the scheme, but from 2011-12 onwards the fund-sharing pattern was

revised with the Central Government contributing 75% of the funds. In case of States in the

North-East, the Central Government provides 90% of the funding. The fund sharing pattern

of the Scheme has been further revised from 75:25 to 60:40 (Centre: State) (90:10 for the 8

North-Eastern and 3 Himalayan States) with effect from 2015-16 on account of enhanced

devolution of funds to the State Governments based on the recommendations of 14th Finance

Commission. Central funding is, however, subject to budgetary allocation for the Scheme.

6.23 Budgetary Support: Since inception of the Scheme, the Central Government has

provided financial assistance amounting to 6009 crore to State Governments/Union

Territories. Out of this, an amount of 2565 crore has been provided since 2014-15 till 22nd

January, 2018 (46.66 percent).The trends of utilisation of funds both in monetary and

percentage terms under the Scheme during 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 (upto 31.01.2018)

are given in the following table.

TABLE NO. –XXI (Rs. in crore)

Financial Year Budget Estimates

Revised Estimates

Utilisation of funds

2015-16 562.99 562.99 562.99 (100%)

2016-17 600.00 538.74 538.74 (100%)

2017-18* 621.20 621.21 541.20 (87.12%)

*Utilisation of funds is up to 19.02.2018.

6.24. As on 5th February, 2018, the Central Government has released an amount of

2575.93 crore to the State Governments and UT administrations for the period from 2014-15

to 2017-18. During the current financial year (2017-18), an amount of Rs.541.20 crore has

been released to the States as of January, 2018. A Statement indicating funds released to

various States / UTs under the revised scheme from 2014-15 to 2017-18 is given below:


58

TABLE NO. – XXII

Statement indicating funds released to various States / UTs under the revised scheme (2014-15 to 2017-18)

(Rs in lakhs)

Sl. No.

State Funds sanctioned in 2014-15

Funds sanctioned in

2015-16

Funds sanctioned in 2016-17

Funds sanctioned in

2017-18

1 Andhra Pradesh

2 Bihar 4909.35 5000.00 4290.00

3 Chhattisgarh 2176.60

4 Goa

5 Gujarat 10000.00 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00

6 Haryana 5000.00 1500.00

7 Himachal Pradesh 819.00

8 Jammu & Kashmir 3429.00 1325.00 2104.00 1000.00

9 Jharkhand 3044.00 3044.00 5000.00

10 Karnataka 16370.00 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00

11 Kerala 2500.00

12 Madhya Pradesh 6141.00 5000.00 5000.00

13 Maharashtra 9975.00 5000.00 4975.00 5000.00

14 Orissa

15 Punjab 9805.00 5000.00 4800.00 5000.00

16 Rajasthan 5000.00 4374.00

17 Tamil Nadu 5000.00

18 Uttarakhand 3559.05 1038.00

19 UttarPradesh 12531.00 5000.00 5000.00 7500.00

20 West Bengal 2000.00

Total (A) 83940.00 44369.00 42072.00 47828.00

NE States

1 Arunachal Pradesh 1000.00 1593.00

2 Assam 2000.00

3 Manipur 2000.00 2000.00

4 Meghalaya 1709.00 2037.00 2000.00 292.00

5 Mizoram 1085.00 2000.00

6 Nagaland 2016.00 2000.00 2000.00

7 Sikkim

8 Tripura 1550.00

Total (B) 9360.00 5630.00 4000.00 6292.00 UTs

1 A & N Islands 259.68

2 Chandigarh

3 Dadra &Nagar Haveili

4 Daman & Diu 42.43

5 Delhi 6,040.32 5,000.00

6 Lakshadweep

7 Pondicherry 259.68 2500.00

Total (C) 0.00 6300.00 7802.11 0.00

Grand Total (A+B+C) 93300.00 56299.00 53874.11 54120.00


59

6.25. Status of Progress: There are 17,817 court halls / court rooms available for District

and Subordinate Courts in the country. In addition, 3165 court halls / court rooms are under

construction. Comparing these figures with the working strength of 16,754 judges / judicial

officers reported by High Courts, adequate court rooms / court halls are available for the

current strength of judicial manpower. Focus is now to match the availability of court rooms /

court halls with the sanctioned strength of judicial officers / judges in District and

Subordinate Courts. Considerable progress has also been made with regard to availability of

residential units for judicial officers in District and Subordinate Courts. There are 13,790

residential units were available for Subordinate Courts and 1778 residential units were under

construction.

6.26 Continuation of Scheme: The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) approved the

continuation of Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure

Facilities for Judiciary in August, 2017beyond 12th Five year Plan, i.e.from 31stMarch, 2017

upto 31stMarch, 2020, with an outlay of ₹ 3,320 crore for three years (Rs 1000 crore for

2017-18, Rs 1110 crore for 2018-19 and Rs 1210 for 2019-2020) for the Scheme to be

implemented in Mission Mode through the National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal

Reforms.. The Union Cabinet approved the above recommendation of EFC in its meeting

held on 16th November, 2017. The Union Cabinet also approved that 1000 court halls and 600

residential units would be constructed during each year 2017-18 and 2018-19. The Union

Cabinet has also directed that the norms and specifications for infrastructure of court halls

and residential units should be formulated and an online monitoring system with geo-tagging

be also set up for effective monitoring of the works being undertaken under this scheme.

6.27 Evaluation of the Scheme: The Department in its written replies to the questionnaire

has informed that the implementation of the Scheme has been evaluated by a third party,

National Productivity Council, in accordance with the recommendation of the Committee in

its Ninety-fourth Report. It has concluded as under:

• The CSS has immensely contributed towards improving judicial infrastructure;

• It has helped in improving the quality of overall justice delivery system at the

subordinate courts in the country; and

• It has also been instrumental in reducing the pendency of cases and for the

partial establishment of the elements of model courts and e-Courts at the District

level.


60

6.28. Allocation of funds in BE 2018-19: The Department in its written submission to the

Committee has stated that as per the recommendation of the EFC and subsequent approval of

the Union Government, at least Rs 1000 crore for 2017-18, Rs 1110 crore for 2018-19 and Rs

1210 for 2019-2020 would have been required to achieve the measurable target of 1000 court

halls and 600 residential units per year for the Scheme. In BE 2017-18, Rs 629.20 crore was

allocated, which has already been fully utilized. No additional allocation of fund was made in

RE 2017-18 andin BE (2018-19) too, against the projected demand of Rs 1110 crore, only Rs

630 crore has been allocated, which is a shortfall ofRs 480 crore (43.25%) from the outlay of

₹ 1,110 crore recommended by the EFC and approved by the Union Cabinet. Owing to the

reduced allocation, the development of judicial infrastructure in the States/UTs will be

adversely affected and the measurable targets for each year will not be achieved. Further,

failure to achieve the measurable targets due to non-availability of funds, may result in delay

in development of judicial infrastructure and thereby in expeditious delivery of justice to the

common man and also in reduction of pendency of cases in courts.

6.29. The Committee appreciates the activities under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme

for Infrastructure Development for Subordinate Judiciary and is of the view that

infrastructure development of courts is critical for timely delivery of justice. The

Committee observes that for achieving the measurable targets of construction of 1000

court halls and 600 residential units per year, the Government has approved an outlay

of ₹ 3,320 crore for three years (Rs 1000 crore for 2017-18, Rs 1110 crore for 2018-19

and Rs 1210 for 2019-2020). However, so far reduced allocations have been made for the

Scheme. In 2017-18, there was a shortfall of around Rs 370 crore and in BE 2018-19, it

is Rs 480.80 crore. The Committee feels that such a huge reduction in allocation for this

Scheme would make it impossible to achieve the measurable targets, which would

ultimately affect the justice delivery system. The Committee, accordingly, recommends

that the allocation under the CSS may be suitably enhanced at the RE Stage so that the

activities under the scheme do not suffer.

Gram Nyayalayas

6.30. The Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 came into force w.e.f. 2nd October, 2009. The Act

provides for establishment of Gram Nyayalayas at the grass root level with a view to

providing access to justice to citizens at their doorsteps. To encourage the States, the Central

Government formulated a scheme for providing financial assistance for non-recurring


61

expenses for setting up of Gram Nyayalayas @ 18.00 lakh per Gram Nyayalaya ( 10 lakh

for office building, 5.00 lakh for vehicle and 3.00 lakh for furnishing the office). In

addition, a provision was made in the scheme for recurring assistance for 50 percent of

expenditure up to a ceiling of 3.20 lakh per annum per Nyayalaya for the first three years.

The recurring and non-recurring assistance is subject to financial ceilings as provided in the

guidelines of the scheme.Rs. 52.60 crore has been released so far, including ₹ 8.00 crore

during current Financial Year (2017-18) under Gram Nyayalayas Scheme.

6.31. The Department in its written submission to the Committee during the Demands for

Grants (2018-19) submitted that out of 630 crore allocated under Centrally Sponsored

Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary, 8.00 crore is allocated in

BE (2018-19)for the Scheme of Assistance to State Governments for establishing and

operating Gram Nyayalayas, which is same as in the BE (2017-18).

6.32. So far, 11 States have notified 343 Gram Nyayalayas. Of them, 210have started

functioning in 9 States, as per the details given below:

TABLE NO. – XXIII

Sl. No. State Gram Nyayalayas Notified

Gram Nyayalayas Functional

1. Madhya Pradesh 89 89

2. Rajasthan 45 45

3. Karnataka 2 0

4. Odisha 22 14

5. Maharashtra 39 24

6. Jharkhand 6 1

7. Goa 2 0

8. Punjab 2 1

9. Haryana 2 2

10. Uttar Pradesh 104 4

11. Kerala 30 30

Total 343 210

6.33. The Department of Justice in its written reply to the Committee on the Demands for

Grants (2018-19) submitted that it has been reported by the State of Maharashtra that 12,413

cases have been disposed in Gram Nyayalayas, while Kerala has reported that 25,018 cases

have been disposed in Gram Nyayalayas. An Evaluation Study of the Scheme was carried out

in 2017 by the National Productivity Council. Considering the effectiveness and need for

Justice Delivery through Gram Nyayalayas, it has been recommended for continuation of the


62

Scheme with detailed operational guidelines, enhanced central assistance and improved

monitoring mechanisms. The details of institution, disposal and pendency of cases in Gram

Nyayalayas are not maintained centrally.

6.34. The Department has submitted that the issues affecting operationalization of the Gram

Nyayalayas were discussed in the Conference of Chief Justices of High Courts and Chief

Ministers of the States on 7th April, 2013. It was decided in the Conference that the State

Governments and High Courts should decide the question of establishment of Gram

Nyayalayas wherever feasible, taking into account the local issues and situation. The Central

Government has been making regular requests to the Chief Ministers of States and Chief

Justices of High Courts for establishment of Gram Nyayalayas in the respective States.

Recently, the Central Government has requested all State Governments, to set up Gram

Nyayalayas and seek financial assistance for operationalising them under the Gram

Nyayalayas Scheme.

6.35. In the ATR to the Ninety-first Report of the Committee, the Department had informed

that the difficulties faced by States in setting up of Gram Nyayalayas were discussed in the

meeting of the Law/Home Secretaries and Registrar Generals of the High Courts held on 19 -

20 April, 2012. One of the main reasons for the slow pace has been the request by the States

for more financial assistance. Besides, response of the Bar, reluctance of police officials and

other State functionaries to invoke jurisdiction of Gram Nyayalayas, non-availability of

notaries and stamp vendors and more importantly, problem of concurrent jurisdiction of

regular courts, are other issues highlighted by the States which are coming in the way of

speedy operationalization of the scheme. It was also informed that in the year 2011, the

Indian Law Institute conducted a study on the effectiveness of functioning of Gram

Nyayalayas in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The study concluded that Gram Nyayalayas in

these states have not achieved the objectives of either speedy disposal or inexpensive justice

for the poor. However, despite initial problems, institution of Gram Nyayalayas would

succeed if concrete, well planned and continuous efforts are made.

6.36. The pace of establishment of Gram Nyayalayas has been very slow; only 343

Gram Nyayalayas have been notified by 11 States so far and out of these only 210 are

functional in 9 States. The Committee has been expressing concern regarding this state

of affairs for a long time. The Committee has been of the view that delegation of

responsibility to establish Gram Nyayalayas to High Courts and State Governments in


63

Conference of Chief Justices of High Courts and Chief Ministers of the States since 2013

has not seen any heartening improvement. Therefore, in its Ninety-fourth, the

Committee had suggested that the Department should explore a tri-partite model so

that expertise of the Department could also be utilized in establishing Gram

Nyayalayas. The Committee also notes that the Evaluation agency of the Scheme,

National Productivity Council, has recommended for continuation of the Scheme with

detailed operational guidelines, enhanced central assistance and improved monitoring

mechanisms.

6.37. The Committee feels that though the institution of Gram Nyayalayas have not

achieved the objectives of either speedy disposal or inexpensive justice for the poor so

far but can still succeed if concrete, well planned and continuous efforts are made. The

Committee, therefore, suggests that the recommendations of the National Productivity

Council for preparation of detailed operational guidelines, enhanced central assistance

and improved monitoring mechanisms should be implemented immediately. The

Committee also reiterates its recommendation that the Department should explore a tri-

partite model so that expertise of the Department could also be utilized in establishing

Gram Nyayalayas.

New Initiatives

6.38. The Department has informed that it has launched the following new initiatives on

20th April, 2017, with a focus to improve access to justice:

(a) Nyaya Mitra Programme

6.39. The Department of Justice, in association with CSC e-governance Services India

Limited, New Delhi, has launched ‘Nyaya Mitra scheme’ The program aims at providing

legal aid to the marginalized communities in select 227 districts of 16 States, including Uttar

Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Odisha, NER States and

Jammu & Kashmir, where maximum cases are pending for over ten years as well as work

closely with district judiciary to reduce pendency of cases. Retired government officers and

retired judicial officers are functioning as Nyaya Mitras in 15 districts as on date.


64

(b) Tele law Scheme

6.40. The Scheme is being collaboratively implemented by the Department of Justice, CSC

e-Governance Services Pvt. Ltd and State Legal Service Authority under the aegis of

National Legal Service Authority (NALSA).

6.41. The scheme aims to provide legal aid and advice to the marginalized communities by

the panel lawyers stationed at the State Legal Service Authority, through Para Legal

Volunteers (PLVs). Communication between the panel lawyers and the beneficiary is done

through video conferencing, chat and telephone available at the Common Service Centers

established at the Panchayat level. 1000 Common Services Centers in UP and Bihar were

identified by the CSC e-governance Services India Limited, New Delhi for the program to be

started. A web portal on tele law was designed to register grievances/ legal issues of the

applicants and enable video conferencing with an advocate. Para Legal Volunteers were also

engaged through NALSA to mainly to facilitate outreach, case identification, legal advice and

post advice assistance to the beneficiaries. Panel Lawyers of Legal Services Authority have

been engaged to provide legal advice. Currently, 750 PLVs and VLEs have been trained in

four batches in UP and 261 (one batch) in Bihar. Panel Lawyers have also been provided

training by CSC e-gov and DoJ. As on date, 11000 cases have been registered on the Tele

Law Portal and advice has been rendered in around 8000 cases.

(c) Pro Bono Legal Service Scheme

6.42. Pro Bono legal service initiative aims to consolidate advocates to provide pro bono

legal services to marginalised individuals and to institutionalize pro bono culture in India. To

this end, Department of Justice has created a web based platform (available at doj.gov.in),

through which interested lawyers can register themselves to volunteer pro bono services for

the under-privileged litigants, and marginalized individuals can apply for legal aid and advice

from the pro bono lawyers.

6.43. As on 21 December 2017, 193 advocates from across the country have registered for

volunteering pro bono services; 298 cases of the marginalized applicants have been assigned

to these advocates including those (184 cases) which have been referred to Supreme Court

Legal Services Committee; 69 advocates have provided feedback reports.


65

6.44. The Department is developing a mobile application which will facilitate connections

between beneficiaries and pro bono lawyers. The main objective of the App is to ensure the

scheme’s wider reach, given the high internet mobile penetration in India.

6.45. The Committee appreciates the new initiatives of Nyaya Mitra Programme, Tele

Law Project and Pro Bono Legal Service Scheme launched by the Government to

improve access to justice and feels that all the three schemes are conceptually strong. As

these initiatives are presently at a nascent stage, their true potential would only be

known in the coming times. However, the Committee recommends that the Government

should take all necessary steps, including providing adequate financial backing, to make

these schemes successful on the ground level.

NON- SCHEME ALLOCATIONS

6.46. The major components of Non-Scheme allocation are Secretariat Expenditure of

Department of Justice, Secretariat expenditure of National Mission for Justice Delivery and

Legal Reforms, Grants-in-aid to the National judicial Academy (NJA), Secretariat General

Services expenditure and Grants-in-aid to the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA),

and Supreme Court Legal Services Committee.

Variation of Non-Scheme allocations over the financial year 2017-18

6.47. There is a decrease of Rs 25.57 crore and Rs 26.20 crore in BE 2018-19 over BE

2017-18 and RE 2017-18, respectively. The Department has submitted the reasons for

variation between RE 2017-18 and BE 2018-19 as under:

• Allocation of 5.2 crore is proposed for Secretariat General Services expenditure

of NALSA, which is a decrease of 2.2 crore over RE 2017-18. NALSA had

projected a requirement of Rs 9.17 crore for the year 2018-19 under various heads

of Administrative expenses. However, based on the trend of expenditure, the same

has been reduced to Rs 5.2 crore in BE 2018-19. NALSA may submit its revised

estimates at later stage after taking into account the trend of expenditure under

various sub-heads.

• Grants-in-aid of Rs 80 crore are proposed for NALSA, which is a decrease of Rs

20 crore over RE 2017-18. The variation is due to reduced allocation by IFD.


66

• Grants-in-aid of Rs11.15 crore are proposed for NJA, which is a decrease of Rs

4.85 crore over RE 2017-18. The Grant-in-aid (General) has remained the same in

RE 2017-18 and BE 2018-19, i.e. Rs 10 crore but against Grant for creation of

capital asset of Rs 6 crore in RE 2017-18, only Rs 1.15 crore is proposed in BE

2018-19 because construction of 20 residential flats for the staff of NJA, Bhopal is

on the verge of completion. The reduced amount is required for allied works,

which are minor in nature.

• No allocation for Family Courts has been made in BE (2018-19) as against 0.01

crore BE (2017-18). It was decided by the Government that with effect from

2016-17, no provision may be kept for recurring expenses of Family Courts as the

14th Finance Commission had urged the State Governments to implement the

recommendations relating to the justice sector through their own funds based on

additional tax devolution to them, which included setting up of Family Courts

where none exist today. It was also decided that the funds required for capital

expenditure on construction of court halls for Family Courts may continue to be

processed through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of

Infrastructure for Subordinate Judiciary.

National Judicial Academy (NJA)

6.48. The National Judicial Academy (NJA), Bhopal was established in 1993 under the

Societies Registration Act, 1860 and works under the directions of the Supreme Court of

India. The mandate of NJA is to organize training programmes approved by the National

Judicial Academic Council (NJAC) for the Judicial Officers of the entire country. The

Academy also imparts training to judicial officers of the other countries as and when

approached. The Hon'ble Chief Justice of India is the Chairman of the General Body of NJA

as well as the Chairman of the Governing Council, the Executive Committee and the

Academic Council of NJA.

6.49. The Registrar, NJA while deposing before the Committee on the Demands for Grants

(2018-19) submitted that the Academy is fully funded by the Government of India by way of

provision of Grants-in-aid (general) and grants-in-aid for creation of capital assets. In BE

(2018-19), Rs 11.15 crore is allocated to NJA. The following table provides the details of

grants-in-aid sanctioned to NJA from 2015-16 to 2018-19.


67

TABLE NO. – XXIV

Grants-in-aid General (Revenue) (Rs. in crore)

2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19

BE RE Actual BE RE Actual BE Released BE

10.74 10.74 12.69* 10.74 10.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 10.00

Grants for Creation of Capital Assets

BE RE Actual BE RE Actual BE Released BE

0 0 0 10.00 4.00 4.00 6.00 4.9395 1.15

*The excess expenditure was made from the savings of the Academy which had been recouped from the previous year's allocations, as informed by the Chief Accounts Officer of the Academy.

6.50. The Registrar, National Judicial Academy while deposing before the Committee on

the Demands for Grants (2018-19) submitted that the Academy has a total sanctioned

strength of 124 posts, including 1 each of post of Director and Additional Director, 2 posts of

Registrar, 21 posts of academic staff and 99 posts of non-academic staff. Out of these, 1 post

of Registrar, 6 posts of academic staff and 25 posts of non-academic staff are lying vacant.

6.51. It was also informed that the Academy conducts various training

programmes/refresher course/conference for High Court Judges, CBI Officers, Special Courts

and for officers from SAARC countries.

6.52. During the deposition of Registrar, NJA, the Chairman of the Committee had sought

information regarding how many employees of the Academy belong to SC, ST and OBC

community. NJA in its written submissions has informed that of the 96 staff members

(excluding the Director, Additional Director and Registrar), 8 belong to SC category, 2 to ST,

35 to OBC and 51 belong to General category. Further, of the total 99 employees, 14 are

female.

6.53. The Committee observes that the Academy has been in existence for more than

two decades now and substantial amount of public fund has already been spent on it. It

would, therefore, be useful for the Department to get a third party evaluation made of

the quality of training being imparted at the Academy and the extent to which training

at the Academy has resulted in strengthening the judicial system, so that shortcomings,

if any, could be removed.


68

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)

6.54. The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been constituted under the

Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to monitor and evaluate implementation of legal aid

programmes and to lay down policies and principles for making legal services available

under the Act. In every State, a State Legal Services Authority (SLSAs) and in every High

Court, a High Court Legal Services Committee has been constituted. District Legal Services

Authorities (DLSAs), Taluk Legal Services Committees have been constituted in the Districts

and most of the Taluks to give effect to the policies and directions of the NALSA and to

provide free legal services to the people and conduct Lok Adalats in the State. Supreme Court

Legal Services Committee has been constituted to administer and implement the legal

services programme insofar as it relates to the Supreme Court of India.

Functioning of NALSA

6.55. The Member-Secretary, NALSA during his deposition in the Committee informed

that to achieve the objective of Access to Justice for All, the State Legal Services Authorities,

District Legal Services Authorities, Taluk Legal Services Committees, etc. are doing the

following activities: (i) Providing Free and Competent Legal Services to the eligible persons

as per the criteria given under Section 12 of the Act; (ii) Spreading Legal Literacy and

awareness; (iii) Promoting ADR mechanisms (Lok adalats) for amicable settlement of

disputes; (iv) Implementing victims compensation scheme; and (v) Organising preventive and

strategic intervention programmes. NALSA has 36 SLSAs, 640 DLSAs, 20134 Legal

Services Clinics in villages, jails, communities, etc., about 15000 Legal Literacy Clubs in

schools and colleges, more than 60,000 empanelled Legal Services Advocates and 65,000

trained Para Legal Volunteers (PLVs) to reach the grassroots level. The PLVs mainly act as

bridge between the community members and legal services institutions.

6.56. The Department of Justice in their written submissions has also been informed that

from 2014-15 to 2017-18 (till Sept. 2017), 17.46 lakh persons have been benefited through

legal aid services in the country, as per the following details:


69

TABLE NO. – XXV

Statement Showing the Number of Persons who Benefitted through Legal Services and Advice from 2014-15 to 2017-18

Sl.

No.

Year SC ST BC Women Children In

custody

General Total

1 2014-15 27,443 22,995 62,075 56,500 9,019 56,904 3,26,609 5,61,545

2 2015-16 25,439 23,558 61,503 72,363 7,963 65,093 55,751 3,11,670

3 2016-17 43,806 34,065 1,06,995 1,21,050 19,230 1,12,948 1,11,398 5,56,689

4 2017-18 (till

Sept. 2017)

23,276 20,385 49,503 77,233 9,980 72,048 54,674 3,15,890

Lok Adalats

6.57. As per the written submissions of the Department and the information in the Annual

Report of the Ministry 2017-18, Lok Adalat is one of the Alternative Disputes Resolution

Mechanisms. It is a forum where the disputes/cases pending in the court of law or at pre-

litigation stage are settled amicably. The Lok Adalat has been given statutory status under the

Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Lok Adalats are being organized by the Legal Services

Authorities on regular basis for settlement of cases pending before courts u/s 19 of the Legal

Services Authorities Act, 1987 and also for matters at pre-litigative stage, under the guidance

of NALSA. National Lok Adalat is also conducted for settlement of cases in all the courts

from the Supreme Court to the Taluk Courts. Permanent Lok Adalats have also been set up in

most of the States to take up and settle disputes relating to public utility services. From 2014-

15 to 2017-18 (till December, 2017), a total number of 524000 Lok Adalats have been

organized in the country and about 454.87 lakh cases were settled in these Lok Adalats. In

addition, 11571 sittings of permanent Lok Adalats were held from April to September, 2017

and 60,043 cases were settled and total value settlement comes to Rs 105.8 crore. Further,

since January, 2017, NALSA has organised five National Lok Adalats throughout the country

in all courts at all levels from the Taluk Courts to High Courts.

TABLE NO. - XXVI

Disposal of cases in National Lok Adalat (in lakhs)

Date Pending

Cases

Pre-

Litigation

Total

11.02.17 6.57 3.02 9.53


70

08.04.17 4.13 5.32 9.45

08.07.17 5.50 4.68 10.18

09.09.17 6.02 5.15 11.18

09.12.2017 6.59 7.11 13.70

Legal Awareness Programmes

6.58. The Department has also informed that as a part of the preventive and strategic legal

aid, NALSA through the State Legal Services Authorities, conducts legal literacy

programmes. In some States, Legal Literacy Programmes are conducted every year in schools

and colleges, and also for empowerment of women in a routine manner, besides the rural

legal literacy camps. NALSA undertook special legal awareness programmes on

MGNREGA, Rights of Senior Citizens and Women’s Welfare Programmes. A special

scheme for settlement of grievances relating to MGNREGA through Lok Adalat also was

implemented by NALSA.

6.59. The Member-Secretary, NALSA in his deposition before the Committee informed of

the steps taken by NALSA during the last couple of years and in the current financial year to

reach out to more and more people, increase the quality of court-based legal services and

initiatives for the under trial prisoners and convicts in jails. The Chairman of the Committee

pointed out that the problem even in the Supreme Court is that a lawyer appearing on behalf

of the Legal Service Authority finds that sometimes translation is not complete. In the

absence of translated documents, other proper documents and instructions, it is very difficult

for lawyers. Members also pointed out the issue of overcrowding of jails, where two-thirds

are under trial prisoners, who are presumably innocent according to law. There is no respect

for human dignity and human rights of the inmates. Members also shared experiences that on

the ground level a man in distress, whose liberty is taken away, Article 21 is suspended for

the time being, does not get legal aid at the stage of first remand, as claimed by NALSA.

They are paraded like cattle and there is nobody to stand up and say that I have a brief and

this man has been arrested wrongly. The legal aid lawyers surface only when the evidence is

being recorded and by that time it is too late. By that time, all fabrication and everything is

done by the policemen. Therefore, he cannot be guarded. It was also pointed out by the

Members that in most cases raw lawyers, who do not know what is the particular complicity

of the crime or involvement of the client, are assigned.


71

6.60. In this regard the Committee took note of the Report of the Bihar State Legal Services

Authority on ‘Prisons of Bihar’ published in the year 2015 which inter-alia mentioned that

out of 1,083 woman prisoners who were approached hardly any of them could name their

lawyer. Nor were they aware of the stage of the case or the sections under which they were

framed. Most of them told that their “guardians” know best about their cases. Women

prisoners were heavily dependent on their families or on well-wishers in making crucial

decisions. The guardians in most instances were the male members of the family. Women

prisoners hesitated to ask for legal aid lawyers even if their families have not visited them in

months. For them, it was an endless wait.

6. 61. The Report stated further that out of 3,070 persons, 2,218 persons were not produced

before the Judge as the first production. The Chairman observed that technology alone cannot

assure protection of legal rights of prisoners. Work needs to be done at the ground level.

Members also sought to know the initiatives being taken by NALSA to provide legal

representation to all the undertrials from the very beginning, to decongest the jails, and to

appoint competent lawyers, etc.

6.62. The Department of Justice has furnished while replying to the replies to the queries of

the Members stated that NALSA is taking the following initiatives for Undertrial prisoners

and Convicts in jails:

• In the last two years NALSA has established Legal Services Clinics in about 1070

jails, manned by trained Para Legal Volunteers (PLVs) and Panel Lawyers and jail

inmates trained as PLVs to provide legal advice and assistance to inmates in the jail

itself. NALSA panel lawyers and PLVs are available on call at all the Police stations

pan India. 1.10 lakh prison inmates, including undertrial prisoners and convicts, have

availed legal services from NALSA. It was also informed that NALSA has dedicated

Remand Advocates in all the Magisterial Courts to provide legal service right from

the first remand. A total of 9563 Remand Advocates have been appointed for this

purpose.

• NALSA has been appointed as Nodal Agency by two benches of Hon’ble Supreme

Court for providing a complete digital solution to legal services needs for undertrial

prisoners but also convicts with the help of Crime and Criminal Tracking Network

System (CCTNS), E-prison portal, Case Information System (CIS) under e-

Committee and Inter Operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS).


72

• It is digitizing 700 of its Legal Services Clinics in jails with an aim to seamlessly

access case information and documents of undertrial prisoners and convicts from

ICJS. Availability of handy and updated trial documents in jails would go a long way

in providing effective legal services to undertrial prisoners and timely filing of appeal

of convicts.

• Under Trial Review Committees (UTRCs) are functioning in all the Districts under

the Chairpersonship of the concerned District and Sessions Judge, who is also

Chairperson of the DLSA, to recommend the cases of prisoners who are entitled to

bail under Section 436(A) of Cr. P.C. and also various other categories as mandated

by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of Writ Petion Civil No. 406/2013.

DLSA Secretaries are working closely with UTRCs for release of undertrial prisoners

who are entitled to statutory bails. 2081 such undertrial prisoners were released in the

year 2017.

• NALSA is in the process of finalizing the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for

UTRCs and other stakeholders for smooth identification, recommendation follow up

and reporting of all categories of prisoners so released. NALSA is also planning to

evolve a complete digital solution for easy identification of such cases in coordination

with ICJS, CCTNS and Nation e-Prison Portal. NALSA intends to use Artificial

Intelligence to scan through data of 4 lakh prison inmates on daily basis to check if

they are entitled to technical bail as per Law and also keep check if undertrial prisoner

are languishing in jail for failure of furnishing jail bonds.

6.64. During the deposition of the Member-Secretary, NALSA, the Members of the

Committee had enquired as to how NALSA intends to utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) for

delivering legal services. The Department in its written submissions has stated that in order

to ensure legal rights of under-trial Prisoners and convicts are available round the clock, a

project for utilising Artificial Intelligence is being designed for intelligent data mining

and analysis of data. A.I. System has tremendous capacity of scanning through

lakhs of pages/entries/data in a matter of second and this would come handy to NALSA

in providing legal services to all the prison inmates and will also help in de-congestion of

jails.

6.65. It has been further stated that NALSA intends to fortify its drive for ensuring Access

to Justice for All by connecting the poor, disabled, weaker and marginalised Sections of


73

the Society to the welfare and benevolent schemes floated by both State and Central

Government. As of now, NALSA is organising Legal Services Camps all over the country

whereby Ministries and Government Departments on the one hand and intended

beneficiaries on the other hand are brought together on a platform in a remote, rural and

suburban areas across the country so to connect them to each other. NALSA wants to

utilise A.I. System to continue this process of service delivery 24x7, 365 days on a virtual

platform. NALSA believes that Access to Justice is not limited to access to courts alone

rather it includes citizens access to all that is due to them under the beneficial schemes

of the Government. NALSA wishes to focus on 115 backward districts of the country to use

robustly the technology to uplift them from the darkness and object poverty. It has also been

informed that NALSA is in the process of digitizing its end-to-end functioning by becoming

paperless organisation and A.I. system will help in supervising its Pan India activities and

help, focus and ensure delivery of free legal services to one and all.

6.66. With regard to the steps taken for availability of lawyers at the time of registration

of FIR itself, the Department has informed the following in this regard:

• NALSA has advised all the DLSAs to have the information regarding the availability

of legal services, address, and telephone numbers of the DLSAs displayed at the

Duty Officer room of all Police Stations.

• DLSAs have nominated lawyers and PLVs to be available on call for providing

legal services at the police stations ht the stage of registration of FIR and also

whenever somebody is arrested and brought to the police station.

• NALSA has instituted telephone helpline number 15100 and the various State

Legal Services Authorities have their own helpline numbers on which any person

can call to seek legal aid or advice at any stage. These numbers are also to be

displayed at the police stations.

• In the coming years, NALSA is planning to install LED monitors at the important

police stations to disseminate information about the availability of free legal

services to the entitled categories of person.

6.67 As regards initiatives being taken for enhancing quality of legal services the

Committee was informed that NALSA is taking the following initiatives to enhance the

quality of legal services:


74

• A uniform method for selection of efficient panel lawyers is being finalized. As per

the present provisions of the NALSA Free and Competent Legal Services Regulations,

2010 the selection of panel lawyers is made by a Committee constituted by the

Executive Chairman of SLSA or the Chairman of the concerned District Legal

Services Authority. The Regulation provides for a minimum of three years experience

for a legal practitioner to be empanelled. Separate panels may be maintained for

dealing with different types of cases by selecting suitable lawyers. In the year

2017, NALSA had constituted a Committee headed by Hon'ble Mr. Justice

Suryakant, Executive Chairman, Chandigarh State Legal Services Authority to

suggest ways of having efficient lawyers on the panels. The Report of the

Committee is being finalised. It is being suggested that apart from inviting

applications, the Chairman and the Secretary of the Legal Services Institutions

would also identify that efficient lawyers for empanelment and request them to

take up legal aided cases. Different scales of fee can be adopted by SLSAs to have

more experienced advocates or advocates who have specialisation in particular

subject matters.

• Enhancement of lawyers fee: A minimum fee of Rs 750 per hearing in District

Courts, subject to a maximum of Rs 7500 per case and Rs 1000 in the High Court,

subject to maximum of Rs 10000 per case has been implemented by all SLSAs, apart

from fee for drafting of pleadings and various applications. The recommended fee

structure has a stipulation that the SLSAs would re-consider the fee structure every

three years.

• Regular training of Panel Lawyers being undertaken by all SLSAs. Two training

Modules have already been released and the third is likely to be released in March,

2018.

• Monitoring Committees at all levels are being strengthened.

6.68. On the query of the Members regarding mechanism to ensure that cases are allotted to

appropriate lawyers, the Department has submitted that the cases are usually marked to the

concerned lawyers by the Secretary of the Legal Services Institutions who are conversant

with the field of specialisation of the concerned panel lawyers. The Regulation 15 of the

NALSA Free and Competent Legal Services Regulations, 2010 also allows special


75

engagement of Senior Advocates in suitable cases, as deemed fit by the Hon'ble Chairman or

the Chairman of the concerned District Legal Services Authority.

6.69. Against the projected demand of Rs 140 crore, Grants-in-aid of Rs.80 crore have been

allocated for NALSA in BE (2018-19), which is a decrease of ₹ 20 crore over RE (2017-18).

The Member-Secretary, NALSA in his written submission to the queries of the Members of

the Committee submitted that the huge reduction in the allocation of about 43 % for

NALSA will have a grave impact on its ongoing efforts to reach out to the needy for their

legal empowerment. It will not only hamper the new initiatives but may also fall quite

short of fulfilling need for routine activities. He has accordingly, requested that grant may

be enhanced at RE stage.

TABLE NO. – XXVII

Financial Targets and Achievements from 2012-13 to 2017-18 (Till December) Grants-in-aid to NALSA

Rs. in lakhs

Year Funds Allocated Funds Released Funds Utilized

2012-13 4450.00 3900.00 3692.00

2013-14 10000.00 8044.00 6039.00

2014-15* 14200.00 8265.00 5602.00

2015-16# 14500.00 6797.00 6066.00

2016-17$ 14200.00 6367.00 11305.00

2017-18 10000.00 5440.00 5586.00

* The grant was received at the fag end of the year and hence, the grant could not be fully utilized. In addition to the grant given by NALSA, the SLSAs received lump sum grants under the 13th Finance Commission of India for legal aid activities and also for Lok Adalats, etc.

# The grant was received at the fag end of the year and hence, the grant could not be fully utilized.

$ The NALSA was having an unspent grant of Rs.57, 22, 41,804/- carried over from 2015-16. Together with the grant of Rs.63.67cr. released during the year the NALSA was having a total grant of Rs.120, 89, 41,804/-.

6.70. On the staff position in NALSA, the Committee was told that the proposed strength of

staff of the National Legal Services Authority is 52. However, at present, the sanctioned staff

strength is 34, out of which 10 posts are lying vacant. The Member-Secretary, NALSA in his written

submission to the Committee during the Demands for Grants (2018-19) submitted that the staff

strength at present is not adequate to handle the existing work load for the following reasons:

(a) Legal Services Authorities are also implementing victim compensation

scheme after the introduction of Section 357-A in the Code of Criminal

Procedure in the year 2009 and promulgation of victim compensation schemes

in consequent to the said section.


76

(b) Reach out of the Legal Services Authorities has increased with the opening of

Legal Services Clinics in villages and urban areas and opening of Legal

Services. Moreover, front offices have also been opened for providing legal

aid and advice. This requires regular monitoring and assessment and further

policy making for making them effective; (c) At present 36 State Legal

Services Authorities, 648 District Legal Services Authorities and 2267 Taluk

Legal Services Committees are functional, apart from Supreme Court Legal

Services Committee and High Court Legal Services Committees across the

country. This necessitates formulation of effective legal aid programmes/

projects, apart from regular assessment and impact analysis. Hence, the same

requires more staff; (d) NALSA intends to use technology to facilitate access

to justice initiatives so that effective expeditious and quality legal services are

provided. This also requires technical staff having adequate knowledge of IT.

6.71 As per the Two Hundred and Sixty Eight Report of the Law Commission, 67 per

cent of India’s prison inmates are undertrial prisoners, who are presumably innocent

according to law. A majority of them (70.60 per cent) are illiterate or semiliterate and

belong to socio-economically marginalised groups. This has led to overcrowding of

prisons and violation of basic rights of prisoners. The Committee has been apprised of

the various measures being taken/proposed to taken by NALSA for undertrial prisoners

and convicts in jails, which include establishment of Legal Services Clinics in about

1070 jails to provide effective legal services, appointment of 9563 remand advocates,

working with undertrial Review Committees for release of prisoners who are entitled to

statutory bails, etc. Legal aid is a Constitutional imperative under Articles 14, 21 and 39

(A) of the Constitution of India. More so, Legal Services Act, 1987 has been enacted

with a view to provide legal aid and services to the indignant and vulnerable sections of

the society and promote legal awareness amongst them. To the query of the Committee

about the non-availability of Legal Services Clinics in certain jails, the Committee was

informed that 1070 Legal Services Clinics have been established various jails across the

country and in 168 jails it is yet to be established. The Committee is pained to note that

even after 30 years of the enactment of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, NALSA

has not be able to establish Legal Service Clinics in all the jails of the Country. The

Conditions of jails is the country is pitiable with overcrowding, lack of healthcare

facility, etc. In many cases prisoners with petty criminal charges are made to stay with

hardened criminals, leading to the making of potential criminals in future. There must


77

be segregation of criminals based on the nature of charges against them and under-trial

prisoners who have served fifty-percent of their term should be released as per Section

436A of the CrPC. However, it is constrained to note that the Constitutional

commitment to provide legal aid services from the time the accused is produced before

the Magistrate for the first time and thereafter each time he/she is produced for

remand, is not being fulfilled. The experience at the ground level is that the accused do

not get representation from the time of first remand as claimed by NALSA. It is usually

at a much later stage and in many cases at the time of evidence. By that time it is too

late to protect the rights of the accused. Also, there are issues of insufficient briefing and

instructions to the panel lawyers, as well as non-availability of translated material, etc.

that comes in the way of cause of justice for these people.

6.72. The Committee, therefore, recommends that NALSA should re-examine the

ground realities and take all necessary measures, like establishment of Legal Services

Clinics in all the jails, appointment of adequate number of remand advocates, working

with under trial Review Committees in close coordination, to ensure that the

constitutional rights of these prisoners are protected from the stage of first remand

itself and the prisons are decongested.

6.73. In most cases lawyers without much experience are empanelled who do not

understand the complexity of the crime. Also, in most cases the prisoners are unaware

of who is representing them and at what stage their case is. The Committee had

expressed displeasure over the quality of lawyers empanelled for providing legal aid in

its Ninety-first Report also. NALSA has informed that various steps are being taken to

appoint competent lawyers, including proposed amendment to the NALSA Free and

Competent Legal Services Regulations, 2010. The Committee also notes that the fee of the

panel lawyers has been recently enhanced by all SLSAs. It is a welcome step but the

Committee feels that it still may not be lucrative enough to attract talented lawyers. The

Committee feels that a lot more still needs to be done to attract talented lawyers and,

therefore, recommends that NALSA should take proactive measures to ensure that only

competent lawyers are appointed on the panel. The Committee also suggests that the

performance of the lawyers already on the panel should be reviewed periodically for

improved results.

6.74 The Committee notes that the projected demand of NALSA has been curtailed

by ₹ 60 crore, which may affect its working during the current financial year.


78

Furthermore, human resource constraints may also have impact on its functioning. The

Constitutional commitment of the State to afford equal opportunity to all to secure

justice may be hampered due to inadequacy of funds or human resource constraints.

The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Government should appropriately

enhance Grants-in-aid made available to the Authority and also take immediate

measures to fill vacant posts so that the activities of NALSA do not suffer.

SECOND NATIONAL JUDICIAL PAY COMMISSION (SNJPC)

6.75. The Supreme Court of India vide its order dated 9th May, 2017 in the All India Judges

Association vs. Union of India & others, directed the Government to appoint a Judicial Pay

Commission to review the pay scales, emoluments and service conditions of the Judicial

Officers of Subordinate Judiciary. Accordingly, the Second National Judicial Pay

Commission was constituted for Subordinate Judiciary to examine the present structure of

emoluments and conditions of service of Judicial Officers in the States and UTs. The

Commission aims to evolve the principles which would govern pay structure and other

emoluments of Judicial Officers belonging to the Subordinate Judiciary of the country. It will

examine the work methods and work environment as also the variety of allowance and

benefits in kind that are available to Judicial Officers in addition to pay and suggest

rationalization and simplification thereof. The Commission is headed by Shri Justice Retd. J.

P. Venkatrama Reddi, former Judge of Supreme Court of India, Shri R. Basant, former Judge

of the Kerala High Court as Member. It will make recommendations to Government within a

period of 18 months2.

6.76. The Committee is happy to note that the Government has constituted the Second

National Judicial Pay Commission to examine the pay/emoluments/service conditions of

subordinate judiciary in the country. The pay scales of judicial officers are not uniform

across the country. The objective of the Commission for bringing parity amongst the

judges (5927) in subordinate courts of similar rank across the States is laudable. The

Committee is of the view that the recommendations of the Commission would help in

strengthening subordinate judiciary, thereby promoting judicial efficiency and

administration in the country.



79

VACANCIES AND PENDENCY OF CASES IN SUBORDINATE COURTS

6.77. Constitution of India has provided for a single integrated system of Courts to

administer and interpret both Union and State laws. The Supreme Court being the highest

court of appeal is at the top of hierarchy as per Article 124 of the Constitution, followed by

High Courts at State levels as per Article 214 which caters to one or more than one States.

Below High Courts exist subordinate Courts comprising District Courts at district level and

other lower Courts at taluk levels. Chapter IV of Part V and Chapter VI of Part VI of Indian

Constitution talk about the Union Judiciary and Subordinate Courts, respectively.

6.78. The Supreme Court, through a judicial order, has devised a process and time frame to

be followed for the filling up of vacancies in subordinate judiciary. The order of January

2007 by the Supreme Court stipulates that the process for recruitment of judges in the

subordinate courts would commence on March 31st of a calendar year and end by October

31st of the same year. The Supreme Court has permitted State Governments/ High Courts to

seek variations in the time schedule in case of any difficulty, having regard to the peculiar

geographical and climatic conditions in the State or other relevant conditions.

TABLE NO. – XXVIII

State/UT-wise details of vacancies of Judges in District and Subordinate Courts vis-a-vis State/UT- wise details of pending cases in District and Subordinate Courts

Sl. No. Name of States/UTs Vacancies as on 31.12.2017

Number of cases pending in District and Subordinate

Courts as on 01.01.2018

(31.12.2017 was on Sunday) $$

1 Andhra Pradesh & Telangana** 114 915410

2 Arunachal Pradesh*** 11 N.A. 3 Assam*** 76 223954

4 Bihar 835 1658292

5 Chhattisgarh*** 63 272888

6 Goa*** 12 39745

7 Gujarat 375 1641355

8 Haryana*** 147 645647

9 Himachal Pradesh 11 209938

10 Jammu & Kashmir 29 121754

11 Jharkhand** 251 333494

12 Karnataka*** 326 1381438

13 Kerala*** 80 1152056

14 Madhya Pradesh 728 1325053

15 Maharashtra*** 149 3336574

16 Manipur** 18 9604


80

17 Meghalaya*** 58 7032

18 Mizoram*** 33 3306

19 Nagaland*** 11 N.A.

20 Orissa 204 1022635

21 Punjab*** 136 568232

22 Rajasthan*** 101 1424560

23 Sikkim*** 8 1400

24 Tamil Nadu* 341 1010381

25 Tripura*** 31 25191

26 Uttar Pradesh 1348 6161822

27 Uttarakhand*** 60 210587

28 West Bengal and A & N Island *** 40 1770820

29 Chandigarh*** 0 38628

30 D & N Haveli and Daman & Diu*** 0 5298

31 Delhi** 316 607036

32 Lakshadweep*** 1 N.A. 33 Pondicherry* 14 N.A. Total 5,927 26124130

* Details of Vacancies of Judges as on 07.11.2017/**Details of vacancies of Judges as on 31.10.2017 /***Details of vacancies of Judges as on 30.11.2017/ $$ source: NJDG Web portal.

Note : Data on District and Subordinate Courts in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Union Territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry are not available on the web-portal of NJDG.

6.79. As per the Concept Note 3 of Supreme Court of India on District Judiciary

Recruitment Examination, the sanctioned strength of district and subordinate judges in India

is approximately 21000 today. Of these, approximately 4800 positions are vacant. While the

exact numbers are not available, it can be assumed that 25 percent of these are district judges,

of which 25 percent are to be recruited through direct recruitment/examination, as per All

India Judges Association & Ors. v. UOI &Ors. [(2010) 15 SCC 170]. This means that on an

annual basis, there are likely to be approximately 300 vacancies that need to be filled up each

year.

6.80. The Committee is concerned with the large number of vacancy positions of

judicial officers and judges in subordinate judiciary. As per the data available, at

present 5927 positions of judicial officers are vacant in different States. The Vacancy is

highest in the States of Uttar Pradesh (1348), Bihar (835), Madhya Pradesh (728),

Gujarat (375) and Tamil Nadu (341). Since appointment of subordinate judicial officers

falls under the domain of State Government, the Committee recommends the

Department of Justice to impress upon the State Government to initiate appointment of

judicial officers. The Committee is of the view that recruitment and training of judicial

personnel and supporting staffs at Subordinate Courts may help in reducing the

3http://www.sci.gov.in/pdf/LU/Concept%20Note.pdf


81

pendency of cases and the judge-population ratio may be corrected by appointing more

judges in the Subordinate Courts to reduce pendency. The Committee further

recommends the Department to explore the option of creation of All India Judicial

Services to fill-up the vacancies.

6.81. The Committee is pained to note that huge pendency of cases exists in the

Subordinate Judiciary. The pendency is highest in the States of Uttar Pradesh

(6161822), Maharashtra (3336574), West Bengal (1770820), Bihar (1658292) and

Gujarat (1641355).The Committee in its 67th Report on the Infrastructure Development

and Strengthening of Subordinate Courts (2014) expressed its serious concern over the

large number of vacancies existing in the Subordinate Courts and recommended that

vacancies of judicial officers need to be filled-up as both vacancy of judicial officers and

pendency of cases are closely related to each other. The Committee further

recommended that regular conducting of morning/evening, holiday courts, lokadalats,

alternative dispute redressal mechanisms etc., wherever feasible, can help in reducing

the problem of pendency of cases in Subordinate Judiciary. Sincere efforts are also

required on the part of State governments to fill the existing vacancies in the

Subordinate Courts, so that the disposal rate of cases may be enhanced.

VACANCIES AND PENDENCY OF CASES IN SUPREME COURT AND HIGH

COURTS

6.82. Judges of High Courts are appointed under articles 217 (1) and 224 of the

Constitution. Judges of the High Courts are appointed as per the procedure laid down in the

Memorandum of Procedure prepared in 1998 pursuant to the Supreme Court Judgement of

October 6, 1993 (Second Judges case) read with their Advisory Opinion of October 28, 1998

(Third Judges case). As per the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for appointment of Judges

of High Courts, the initiation of proposal for appointment of Judges in the Supreme Court

vests with the Chief Justice of India, while initiation of proposal for appointment of Judges in

the High Court vests with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court. As per the existing

Memorandum of Procedure, the following timelines have been prescribed:

TABLE NO. – XXIX

Activities Timelines

Proposal to be initiated by Chief Justice of High Court 6 months before occurrence of vacancy


Chief Minister/Governor to recommend proposal received from the Chief Justice of High Court

Chief Justice of India/Supreme Court Collegium to recommend the proposal of MLJ

Recommendations of CJI to PM for advising the President for approval

6.83. The Members of the

(2018-19) raised concern with

Court Advocates-on-Record Association

known as Second Judges Case,

6.84. Nearly, 37 percent of

vacancies exist in all the High

the Supreme Court is 31. As on

vacancies to be filled up. A s

vacancies of Judges in the Supreme

2018 is given below:-

82

Chief Minister/Governor to recommend proposal received from the Chief Justice of High Court

Within six weeks

Chief Justice of India/Supreme Court Collegium to recommend the proposal of MLJ

Within four weeks

Recommendations of CJI to PM for advising the President Within three weeks

Committee during the meeting on the Demands

with regard to the non-adherence of guidelines laid

Association and another vs. Union of India

Case, in the appointment of judges.

of the approved strength of Judges in High

High Courts, except Sikkim High Court. The approved

on 1st February, 2018, 25 Judges are in position

statement showing the approved strength, working

Supreme Court of India and the High Courts,

TABLE NO. – XXX

Within six weeks

Within four weeks

Within three weeks

Demands for Grants

laid in the Supreme

India (1993), popularly

High Courts is vacant;

approved strength of

position and there are 6

working strength and

as on 1st February,


83

PENDENCY OF CASES

6.85. The high rate of pending cases in Higher Judiciary is a serious matter. The

Department in its written replies to the questionnaire informed that more than 55495 cases are

pending in Supreme Court of India as on the 1st January, 2018. Similarly, 34.27 lakh cases are

pending in High Courts for the same period.

TABLE NO. – XXXI

High Court-wise details of pending cases

S.No. Name of the Court Number of cases pending in High Courts as on January,

2018 $$

A. Supreme Court of India 55459*

B. High Courts

1 Allahabad N.A.

2 Calcutta 232116

3 Gauhati 39191

4 Bombay 464074

5 Chhattisgarh 59463

6 Delhi 69546

7 Gujarat 109709

8 Himachal Pradesh 37955

9 Jammu and Kashmir N.A.

10 Jharkhand 57944

11 Karnataka 211110

12 Kerala 181114

13 Madhya Pradesh 307384

14 Manipur 16889

15 Meghalaya 951

16 Punjab And Haryana 384098

17 Rajasthan 263103

18 Sikkim 212

19 Tripura 2798

20 Uttarakhand 36910

21 Madras 314345

22 Orissa 168375

23 Patna 145056

24 Telangana And Andhra Pradesh 325119

Total Pending Cases 3427462

*Pending Cases in Supreme Court as on 22.12.2017

$$ Source: High Court Data as per NJDG Web portal

Note : Data on Allahabad and Jammu & Kashmir High Courts are not available on the web-portal of NJDG.

6.86. The Committee is concerned with the large number of vacancies of Judges in

High Courts and also took note of problem in its Eighty-seventh and Ninety-first


84

Reports. The vacancy of judges in very high in High Courts of Allahabad (56),

Karnataka (38), Calcutta ( 39), Punjab& Haryana (35), Telangana & Andhra Pradesh

(30) and Bombay (24). The Committee notes that the guidelines laid in the Supreme

Court Advocates-on-Record Association and another vs. Union of India (1993), popularly

known as Second Judges Case, for the appointment of judges are not being adhered to

by the High Courts, which is the responsibility of the Supreme Court in its

administrative side to direct the concerned High Courts to initiate the process of filling-

up the vacancies in advance. The Committee is of the view that to reduce pendency of

cases, the existing vacancy positions of judges need to be filled up immediately and the

vacancies arising in future should be filled strictly as per the guidelines in the Second

Judges Case. The Committee in its Eighty-seventh Report on “Inordinate Delay in

Filling up the Vacancies in the Supreme Court and High Courts” recommended for

raising the age of retirement of Supreme Court judges to 67 years and of High Court

judges to 65 years. The Committee again reiterates its recommendation as it feels that it

would help in retaining the existing judges, which in turn would help in reducing both

vacancy and pendency of cases in the short run.

SCHEDULED LANGUAGES IN HIGHER JUDICIARY

6.87. Article 348 of the Constitution deals with the Language to be used in the Supreme

Court and in the High Courts and for Acts, Bills, etc. Clause (1) (a) of the Article says that

notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this Part, until Parliament by law

otherwise provides, all proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every High Court should be

in English. However, it further says that, notwithstanding anything in sub clause (a) of clause

(1), the Governor of a State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorise the use

of the Hindi language, or any other language used for any official purposes of the State, in the

proceedings in the High Court having its principal seat in that State: Provided that nothing in

this clause shall apply to any judgment, decree or order passed or made by such High Court.

6.88. The language used in legal judgments/pronouncements in higher judiciary is English

as per the Article 348 of the Constitution. However, only a few States have adopted English

as official language. Many States, including Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh had sent

requests to the Government seeking the consent of the President of India under Article 348

(2) of the Constitution, for the use of the official language of the State in the proceedings of

the High Courts of their States. The Government took up these requests with the Supreme


Court of India, however, the request

by the Apex Court4.

6.89. The Committee has

Seventy-fifth and Eighty-fourth

17), and had observed that

State, other than English, with

Court of that State. The

languages of the State other

Courts, provided it is demanded

was further of the view that

the Constitutional provisions

High Courts and accordingly,

mandate of Article 348. The

REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN

6.90. The overall representation

In the recent times, various reports

women in Judiciary. The Vidhi

Gender Imbalance in Lower

judges in the lower judiciary

judges. The women representation

average of 27.6 percent is: Uttar

& Kashmir (18.62), Gujarat (15.11)

Gender Composition


85

request to use official languages of the State

examined the above issue in its earlier

fourth Reports on the Demands for Grants

Article 348 provides for the use of Official

with the consent of the Governor of the

Committee had, accordingly, recommended

other than English may be permitted to be

demanded by the concerned State Government.

that the consultation process with judiciary

provisions are amply clear on the use of Scheduled

accordingly, the use of official languages should be decided

Committee reiterates its above recommendations.

WOMEN IN JUDICIARY

representation of women in judiciary is a cause of concern

reports in media highlighted the poor state of

Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy in its Report “Tiltin

Judiciary (2018)” highlighted the fact that

judiciary across India, 11,397 are male judges and

representation in subordinate judiciary of States that is

Uttar Pradesh (21.4), Nagaland (19.5, Jharkhand

(15.11) and Bihar (15.52).

TABLE NO.- XXXII

Composition in Lower Judiciary in the Country

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=132952

State were not accepted

Reports also, viz.

(2015-16 & 2016-

Official language of the

State in the High

recommended that official

used in the High

Government. The Committee

is not required as

Scheduled Languages in the

decided as per the

recommendations.

concern in the country.

of representation of

“Tilting the Scale:

out of total 15,959

and 4,409 are women

is below the national

Jharkhand (13.98), Jammu

Country


86

6.91. The fate of representation of women in Higher Judiciary is only 10 percent (approx.),

as against 27 percent (approx) in Subordinate Courts. Even in the Supreme Court of India,

out of 24 incumbent judges, there is only one woman judge. The Times of India in an article

dated 30th October, 2017, highlighted the poor state of representation of women in the higher

judiciary. The details are as under:

TABLE NO. - XXXIII

Gender Composition in Higher Judiciary5

High Courts Total

Strength

Women

Judges

% Women

Judges

Bombay 73 11 15

Delhi 38 10 26

Madras 53 7 13

Calcutta 35 4 11

Gujarat 31 4 13

Allahabad 110 6 5

All 24 HCs 692 70 10

6.92. Since Independence, only 6 women judges have been appointed in the Supreme

Court of India, first being in 1989. The Committee, accordingly, desires that the Bench

of Higher Judiciary be reflective of composition of the society and its diversity and

recommends that suitable measures be taken to include more and more Women judges

in both Higher and Subordinate Judiciary. Certain States like Bihar (35 percent),

Andhra Pradesh (33.33) Odisha (33.33), Telangana (33.33, Assam (30 percent),

Rajasthan (30 percent) Tamil Nadu (30 percent), Karnataka (30 percent), Uttrakhand

(30), Uttar Pradesh (20 percent) and Jharkhand (5 percent) have introduced reservation

for women in subordinate judiciary. The Committee is further of the view that quota of

supernumerary (over and above the actual intake) as done in the case of Indian Institute

of Technology may be replicated in the admission of five year law programmes,

particularly in the National Law Universities. The Committee reiterates the

recommendation in its Eighty-fourth Report on the Demands for Grants (2016-17) that

the strength of women judges should be around 50 percent of the total strength of the

judges. The Committee desires that the Department should request the State

Governments to introduce quota for women in Law Universities and subordinate

judiciary recruitment.

5 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/women-account-for-less-than-28-of-total-judges-in-

country/articleshow/61329003.cms


DEMAND

7.0. Demand No. 63 pertains

Supreme Court of India is ‘Charged’

India in BE (2018-19) is 251.06

heads are the salary, office expenses

the BE (2018-19) as against

below:-

Head

Salaries

Total - A

Non-Salary

Medical Treatment

Overtime Allowance

Domestic Travel Expenses

Foreign Travel Expenses

Office Expenses

Publications

Deptt. Canteen

Professional Services

Total - B

Total (A + B)

7.1. Under the sub-head ‘Publications’

lakh, which is same as BE &

only 14.94 lakh against 20

Registrar, Supreme Court of India

Grants (2018-19) informed the

Journal of Supreme Court Decisions’

language. The Official Languages

for the official purposes of the

and State, Acts and for certain

87

CHAPTER – VII

DEMAND NO. 63: SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

pertains to the Supreme Court of India. The

‘Charged’. The total Budget Estimates of the

251.06 crore as against 255 crore in RE (2017

expenses and Professional Service for BE (2016

the BE and RE (2017-18) and Actuals of (2016

TABLE NO. - XXXIV (

BE 2016-17

Àctuals 2016-17

B.E. 2017-18

R.E. 2017-18

154880 1927488 2070000 1922200

1548800 1927488 2070000 1922200

50000 65813 60000 70000

600 351 600 600

Expenses 6000 5231 6000 6000

15000 34274 25000 25000

214400 241139 239400 382200

2000 1494 4000 4000

7000 9440 10000 10000

55000 62258 55000 130000

350000 420000 400000 627800

189880 2347488 2470000 2550000

‘Publications’ the proposed allocation in BE

RE (2017-18). However, the Actual Expenditure

20 lakh in BE (2016-17). To the query of the

India while deposing before the Committee on

the Committee that the ‘The Supreme Court

Decisions’ is being presently regularly published

Languages Act, 1963 provides for the languages which

the Union, for transaction of business in Parliament,

certain purposes in High Courts. The Members

allocation for the

the Supreme Court of

(2017-18). The major

(2016-17). Details of

(2016-17) are given

in thousand)

B.E. 2018-19

2000000

2000000

70000

600

10000

30000

300000

4000

11000

85000

510600

2510600

BE (2018-19) is 40

Expenditure (2016-17) was

the Committee, the

on the Demands for

Court Records-Official

published only in English

which may be used

Parliament, for Central

Members of the Committee


88

raised issues relating to non-publication of certain documents in Hindi language, along with

English by the Apex Court as per the mandate of the Official Languages Act, 1963.

7.2. The Committee notes that out of 251 crores in BE (2018-19), which is a

decrease of 4 crore against RE (2017-18), 40 lakh is proposed under the head

‘Publication’. The Committee also notes that the Supreme Court has not been able to

spend funds allotted to it under the head ‘Publication’ in BE (2016-17), as only 14.94

lakh were spent out of the allocation of 20 lakh under the said head. As per the

Official Languages Act, 1963, every Government department is required to publish

documents in Hindi version, along with English. The Committee accordingly adjures

the Registrar, Supreme Court of India to publish report in Hindi.

- - - - -


89

RECOMMENDATIONS AT A GLANCE

CHAPTER – II

AN OVERVIEW OF THE BUDGET ALLOCATIONS DURING 2018-19

1. The Committee observes that in BE (2018-19), allocation to the Ministry was

enhanced by 242.67 crore over BE (2017-18). Similarly, allocations of Election

Commission of India and Supreme Court of India were enhanced by 121.96 crore and

4.06 crore respectively. However, the allocation in BE (2018-19) is substantially low as

compared to projection by the Departments under the Ministry and the Election

Commission of India. As per the data provided, the Ministry had projected a

requirement of ₹ 6550.38 crore for BE 2018-19 to the Ministry of Finance, against which

an allocation of only ₹ 4386.33 crore has been approved, which is just 67% of the

allocation sought from the Ministry of Finance. Similarly, the Election Commission of

India had projected a requirement of Rs 413.82 crore, against which an allocation of

only ₹ 267.96 crore has been approved, which is just 65% of the allocation sought from

the Ministry of Finance. This indicates that either the projections of the

Ministry/Commission were overestimated or they have received inadequate funds.

[Para 2.23]

2. The Ministry of Law and Justice and organisations under its administrative

control play a very important role in bringing reforms in the Indian Legal System to

achieve expansion, inclusion and excellence in legal education, the legal profession and

legal aid services. They need sufficient funds to cater to their requirements; to execute

ongoing schemes/programmes and to initiate new schemes/programmes. Thus, the

Committee strongly recommends that the Ministry and its organizations are allocated

sufficient funds in the FY 2018-19 to carry out its mandate and additional requirement

of funds may be provided at the RE stage. The Committee makes similar

recommendation for the Election Commission of India so that the activities of the

Commission are not hampered due to paucity of funds. [Para 2.24]

3. The Committee after analyzing the trend of expenditure in the FY 2017-18 in the

Ministry observes that as on 21st February, 2018, the Ministry has been able to spend

about 92 percent of the funds under schemes. However, the spending under the non-

scheme heads is only 71.16, 68.7 and 57.5 percent, respectively, for the Department of


90

Legal Affairs, Legislative Department and Department of Justice as on 5th February,

2018. As per the instructions of the Ministry of Finance, expenditure in the last quarter

is to be restricted to 33% ceiling and last month (March) expenditure to 15% ceiling.

Thus, performance of the Ministry in terms of utilization of funds under schemes leaves

much to be desired. A focused planning and close monitoring of utilization of funds is

required on the part of the Ministry. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the

Ministry should identify the bottlenecks responsible for not being able to maintain the

pace of utilization required as per the instructions of the Ministry of Finance and take

remedial measures so as to improve its performance in utilization of scheme funds in the

future. [Para 2.25]

CHAPTER - III

4. There are twenty two languages specified under VIII Schedule of the

Constitution which includes six classical languages i.e. Tamil, Sanskrit, Malayalam,

Kannad, Telugu and Odia. Article 343 stipulates that the official language of the Union

shall be in Hindi in Devanagri Script and English. The Official Language Act, 1963 and

the Official Language Rules, 1970, promotes use of Hindi progressively in official work

in addition to English. Article 345 of the Constitution mentions that official language of

a State may be one or more languages or Hindi or English. Article 120 of the

Constitution mentions that the business in Parliament shall be transacted in Hindi or in

English. Similarly Article 210 mentions that the business in the legislature of a State

shall be transacted in the official language of the State or in Hindi or in English. Article

351 cast duty upon the Union Government to promote Hindi having special reference to

composite culture of India and for its vocabulary reliance is placed primarily on

Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages. Article 350 gives a constitutional right to

every citizen of the country to send petition to any authority of the Union or the State in

any languages used in the Union or in the State as the case may be. [Para 3.4]

5. Out of twenty two languages specified VIII Schedule of Constitution. The

Legislative Department brings out authoritative texts of Constitution in sixteen

languages. Those are Assamees, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannad, Telugu, Tamil,

Kashmiri, Konkari, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Odia, Urdu, Sindhi, Sanskrit and

Nepali. The Legislative Department is responsible for translation of Central Legislation

both supreme and subordinate in languages mentioned in VIII Schedule of the


91

Constitution. The Constitution of India also needs to be made available in those

languages. The Legislative Department in their submission informed the Committee

that the updated diglot edition of Constitution is to be published, while Constitution in

other languages have not yet been updated in other languages. The Committee,

therefore, exhorts the Department to expedite authoritative translation of Constitution

and other Central Legislation complied on Bharat Sanhita (India Code) for

popularisation of law amongst people speaking those languages. [Para 3.5]

6. The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirteenth Amendment) Bill, 2010 changed

the name of Orissa to Odisha and the Oriya language to Odia. However, in the Annual

Report, 2017-18 of the Ministry old nomenclature is still used. The Department is

accordingly, recommended to update and use the new nomenclature in future reports.

[Para 3.6]

7. The Committee also recommends the Department to use simple day to day

vocabulary in Hindi, wherever possible, and simply the legal terminology for the

understanding of the common people of the country. The Department may also explore

the possibility of creating a separate webpage where all the Acts/Ordinances/Rules

translated by it in regional languages are available. The Committee further

recommends the Department to recruit more language officers or engage experts or

consultants so that legal texts and documents could be simplified and translated in

regional languages for the understanding of the common people. [Para 3. 7]

CHAPTER - IV

8. The Committee observes that as against the projection of 413.82 crore, only

267.96 crore have been allocated in BE (2018-19), which is a short fall of 145.86 crore

(35 percent approx), with major reductions being under the head Information

technology and voters awareness. The Committee is of the view that with the increased

penetration of internet in the country and the focus of Government on programmes like

Digital India to reach out to common people, information technology has become

crucial medium to reach large number of voters in a very short time. However, the

Committee notes that the allocation under the head Information technology and voters

awareness is less than the projected demand of the Commission which may affect the

activities of the Commission in the coming General Elections to the Lok Sabha in 2019.


92

The Committee, accordingly, recommends that, if needed, allocations for it should be

enhanced suitably at RE stage so that activities of the ECI are not adversely affected

due to want of funds. [Para 4.2]

Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP)

9. The Committee appreciates programmes like Systematic Voters Education and

Electoral Participation (SVEEP) as it feels that they are very important to raise voters

awareness about the importance of election in a democracy and right and

responsibilities of citizens, which in-turn are very important in increasing voters turn-

out. The Committee, accordingly, reiterates its recommendations contained in Ninety-

first Report of the Committee on the Demands for Grants (2017-18) that important

initiatives like SVEEP should not be crippled for want of adequate funds. However, the

Committee is also pained to note that as on September, 2017, the Actual Expenditure of

the Commission under the Head Voters Awareness was only 8.4 crore and

accordingly, recommends the ECI also to project its demands realistically in its future

demands. [Para 4.4]

INDIA INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DEMOCRACY AND ELECTION MANAGEMENT (IIIDEM)

10. The Committee appreciates the activities of the IIIDEM and of the considered

opinion that after the completion of permanent campus of the Institute this year its

activities/programmes would go-up further. The Committee also appreciates the

initiatives of IIIDEM in conducting training programmes for election official of others

countries and desires that appropriate measures may be taken to invite more and more

countries, especially developing countries to built human resource capacities and

promote Indian global standing. [Para 4.7]

COMMON ELECTORAL ROLL

11. The Committee notes that preparation of Electoral roll involves huge

expenditure, manpower and time. Preparation of electoral roll by ECI and SECs

involves some amount of duplication of efforts as the voter is the same for election to

different bodies. It is understood that common electoral roll would save time, money

and manpower of the nation besides removing inconsistencies between two sets of

electoral roll and resultant confusion in the mind of the voter. It also limits the scope for


93

electoral malpractices. The Committee accordingly, reiterates its recommendation

contained in the 75th Report of the Committee on the Demands for Grants (2015-16) and

impresses upon the Election Commission of India and the State Election Commissions

to conduct various elections from local bodies to Parliament on the basis of a common

electoral roll. The Committee also recommends the ECI to co-ordinate with and

convinces the State Election Commissions to update the voter database already

available online for the purpose of PRIs and Municipalities elections. The Committee

also recommends the Legislative Department to bring out amendment in the extant

legislations for evolving a common electoral roll. [Para 4.11]

ELECTORS PHOTO IDENTITY CARDS

12. The Committee appreciates the steps undertaken by the Commission for EPIC

coverage in most of the States of the country. The Committee hopes that the Election

Commission would achieve the target of 100 percent before the next General Election to

Lok Sabha especially in States like Assam, Chhatisgarh and Jammu & Kashmir. The

Committee further recommends the commission to improve photo quality of the Elector

Voter Identity Card, as in many cases it becomes difficult to recognize person in the

card, which in turn raises the probability of mal-practices during the voting by the

elector. [Para 4.19]

CHAPTER - V

13. The Committee notes that the Department proposes to take some steps aimed

towards curtailment of legal cases on behalf of the Union of India and its Organisations,

Departments, etc. and requires budgetary support for the same. The Committee

recognizes that the Government and its various agencies are the predominant litigants

in courts and tribunals in the country. It feels that all necessary steps must be taken to

reduce Government litigation in courts so that valuable court time is spent in resolving

other pending cases so as to reduce average pendency time. In view thereof, the

Committee recommends that adequate budgetary support should be provided to the

Department to formulate and implement the proposed Legal Research & Education

Promotion Development Scheme (LREPDS). [Para 5.5]

14. The Committee also notes that Department in its written replies to the

questionnaire has submitted that at present, there is no specific policy in vogue on


94

litigation. A ‘National Litigation Policy’ was drafted in the year 2010 but has not been

finalized so far. At present, it is under active consideration of the Government. The

Committee recommends that the ‘National Litigation Policy’ should be finalized and

implemented by the Government on a priority basis to reduce delays and arrears in the

system in order to achieve the objectives of the National Mission for Justice Delivery

and Legal Reforms. [Para 5.6]

15. The Committee observes that Rs 70 crore has been allocated to ITAT under the

Budgetary sub-head ‘Capital Outlay’ in BE 2018-19 but the same will not be sufficient

and may affect the construction work of the ongoing projects. It has an additional

requirement of funds to the tune of Rs 47 crore. The Committee recommends that the

budgetary allocation for acquisition of land and construction of buildings for ITAT

under the Major head 4070 should be enhanced from Rs 70 crore to Rs 117 crore in RE

2018-19 so that their projects are not stalled. The Committee also notes that under this

sub-head, the pace of utilization of funds by ITAT has been slow over the years, leading

to steep reduction of funds at the RE stage. The Budget allocation for 2017-18 was Rs 71

crore, which was reduced at the RE stage to Rs 31 crore. ITAT has been able to utilize

only 43.98% of the funds allocated in RE 2017-18 up to 5th February, 2018. The

Committee, therefore, recommends that the ITAT and the Department should ensure

proposed projects timely commence, and there should be strict monitoring of their

progress and the pace of expenditure, so as to avoid fund reduction at the RE stage by

the Ministry of Finance. [Para 5.7]

Challenges before the Department: Shortage of staff

16. The Committee observes that there is an overall shortage of manpower of

around 25% in the Department and the situation is even worse in the ILS cadre, where

around 37% of the posts are lying vacant. The Committee notes that this is a perennial

problem in the Department and the Committee had recommended for urgent redressal

of the causes responsible for this state of Affairs in its Ninety-first Report also. Further,

the Committee infers from the reply of the Department that the remedial actions being

taken by it are not yielding the desired results and there are still huge vacancies existing

in the Department. [Para 5.13]

17. The Committee expresses its serious concern over the acute shortage of officers

in the Department, particularly of the ILS cadre. The ILS officers are the Principal


95

Legal Advisers to the Government and play a pivotal role in both advisory as well as in

drafting work and their persistent shortage is sure to affect adversely the functioning of

the Government.The Committee, accordingly, recommends that the causes responsible

for this state of affairs should be identified and proactive steps, including expediting the

amendment of the Indian Legal Service Rules, 1957, must be undertaken to fill up the

existing vacancies in a time bound manner. Present pace of efforts to fill up vacancies is

inadequate and an effective mechanism in consultation with the concerned agencies like

DoPT, UPSC and SSC, should be evolved for timely filling of vacancies. The Committee

further suggests that the Department should proactively pursue the court cases for early

decisions. Further, in the Action Taken Replies to this Report, the Committee may be

informed about the timelines for filling up of vacancies in different grades in the

Department. [Para 5.14]

LAW OFFICERS

18. The Committee observes that of the total sanctioned strength of 25 Law Officers,

9 posts (36%) are presently lying vacant, including the post of Solicitor General of

India, who is second law officer of the country and assists the Attorney General of

India. The Law Officers are entrusted with the responsibility of advising the

Government of India on legal matters referred to them; appearing before the Supreme

Court and any High Court on behalf of the Government of India in cases in which the

Government of India is concerned as a party or is otherwise interested; representing the

Government of India in any reference made by the President to the Supreme Court

under Article 143 of the Constitution; etc. In view of such important duties entrusted to

them, the Committee feels that it is vital for the Government to fill these vacancies

expeditiously so that its functioning is not affected adversely. [Para 5.18]

INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL (ITAT)

19. The Committee observes that as per the data provided by the Department, a

large number of vacancies exist in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal across the board.

This is a long standing issue and is a matter of serious concern, particularly with respect

to vacancies in the post of Members of the Tribunal. The Committee fails to understand

why no solution has been found to deal effectively with this problem even after so many

years. The Department has itself admitted that due to vacancy in the posts of Members,

some of the Benches are not functioning regularly, resulting in increased pendency. The


96

Committee expresses its dismay over this state of affairs and urges the Government to

analyse the causes responsible for the perennial problem of shortage of manpower in

the Tribunal and take immediate remedial measures to fill the vacancies in a time

bound manner so that the Tribunal functions optimally. Also, in the Action Taken

Replies on the recommendations contained in this Report, the Department should

submit a roadmap for filling of vacancies in the post of Members well in time to ensure

that all the Benches of the Tribunal can function regularly. [Para 5.27]

20. The Committee notes that between 2004-05 and 2009-10, the disposal rate was

much higher than the number of cases instituted. The trend reversed between 2010-11

and 2014-15. Then again from 2015-16 onwards the rate of disposal has been higher

than the institution rate, as a result of which pendency has come down from more than

1 lakh cases in 2014-15 to around 92,000 cases as on the 31stDecember, 2017. The

Committee observes that though, with the existing strength of Members, the pendency is

not growing but a huge backlog of cases continues to exist, which is a cause of serious

concern. The Committee has been informed of the series of measures being taken by the

Tribunal to reduce pendency of cases and that in this financial year up to 31st

December, 2017, an average of 50 appeals have been disposed of by each Member of the

Tribunal, which though is an improvement but is not commensurate with the disposal

rate of the year 2004-05. The Committee is of the view that the existing rate of disposal

is not likely to make a major dent in the backlog cases and without improving

incumbency of Members, the pendency situation is likely to remain grim. Besides, there

could be other factors also contributing to the pendency in the Tribunal. The

Committee recommends that the Department should undertake a comprehensive cause

analysis exercise for this state of affairs and take remedial measures urgently so that the

pendency shows substantial improvement and the Tribunal truly lives up to its motto of

‘Nishpaksh Sulabh Satvar Nyay’, which means impartial, easy and speedy justice. In

the Action Taken Replies to this Report, the Committee would like to be apprised of the

findings of the above exercise and the impact of the measures being taken by the

Tribunal, as stated above, to reduce pendency. [Para 5.28]

INDIAN LAW INSTITUTE

21. The Committee applauds the Indian Law Institute for the quality legal research

work being done by it. However, the Committee fails to appreciate the reluctance of the


97

Institute to become fully self-sustainable even after six decades of its establishment and

more than a decade after being granted deemed university status. The Committee notes

that there has been a persistent shortage of Teaching and Non-teaching staff in the

Institute but in the year 2017-18, only the post of Librarian was advertised. The

Committee notes with dismay that the Institute in not making any serious efforts to fill

vacant positions and is content to work with the existing staff strength. It is not inclined

to introduce more academic programmes and has also informed that it has reduced the

number of courses offered for greater emphasis on research activities. The Committee

feels that the Institute will not be deviating from its objective of promoting and

conducting legal research by expanding its academic activities. On the contrary, it will

be fulfilling its objective, which is also to promote the improvement of legal education,

and to impart instruction in law and allied fields. The Committee reiterates that

thevacant positions in ILI should be filled-up immediately so that it is able to expand its

activities and move in the direction of becoming a self-sustaining Institute, and avoid

being a permanent drag on public funds. However, Government funds may continue to

be provided for a limited period till it becomes fully self-sustained. As regards the

request of the Institute that it may be accorded the status of ‘Institute of National

Importance’, the Committee recommends that the Department of Legal Affairs should

examine the issue and share its opinion with the Committee. [Para 5.34]

NOTARIES APPOINTMENT

22. The Committee is of the view that Notaries are an important link in the judicial

system and provide cost effective services to public for various basic services viz.,

verification, authentication, certification of documents etc. in the country. The

Committee is, therefore, despondent to note that nation-wide more than 5000 vacancies

of Notaries exist under the Central Government quota. The data shows that 11

States/UTs do not have a single notary appointed and in most other States/UTs also,

there are huge vacancies. However, the Government is not taking any proactive

measures to fill them. The vacancies are not even advertised and the interested

candidates need to apply suo motu for the notaryship. Further, the Committee also

observes that the entire process of appointment of Notaries from application stage to

issue of Certificate of Practice takes an inordinate time; from interview to selection

alone, this period is almost 2-3 years. This state of affairs is completely unacceptable

and the Department should take immediate action to remedy the problem, starting by


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advertising all the vacancies. Further, a reasonable time frame should be decided to

complete the entire process of selection of notaries and issue of Certificate of Practice.

The renewal of Certificate of Practice should also be done in a time bound manner. Just

because the Notaries Act, 1952 and Notaries Rules, 1956 do not prescribe specific time

limit for the exercise, it does not mean that the Department can unduly delay the entire

process, thereby causing hardship to the common people. The Committee recommends

that the Department should take immediate measures, including the ones suggested

above, to fill the existing vacancies in the notaries in a timely manner. The Committee

would like to be apprised of the progress made in this regard in the Action Taken

Replies of the Department to this Report. [Para 5.46]

CHAPTER - VI

SCHEMES OF THE DEPARTMENT AND BUDGETARY ALLOCATIONS FOR THEM

(a) E-Courts Mission Mode Project (MMP)

23. The e-Courts Mission Mode Project is being implemented to put in place a

justice delivery system with efficiency, accessibility, affordability and is also more

transparency. The Committee notes that there is a shortfall of 268 crore in BE 2018-

19 allocations for this Project. Inadequate funding would adversely affect the

implementation of important components of the Project, leading to delays in its

completion. The Committee, therefore, recommends that adequate funds may be

provided for the Project so that it is not. The Committee, further, recommends that

periodic evaluation of the project be carried out so as to make timely intervention, if

any, needed for completion of the project, as scheduled. [Para 6.10]

24. The Committee is apprised that the National Judicial Data Grid provides a

variety of information to the litigants and judicial administration at various levels for

Case Management and Court Management. The Judicial administration of High Courts

and District Courts can make use of it for policy planning on cases and Court

management, equal and sufficient work to judicial officers, planning for more courts,

human resources, infrastructure, etc. It has features to evaluate judges’ performance.

The Committee feels that this could potentially be an important breakthrough for

judicial administration at various levels. The Committee suggests that the Department


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should constitute a suitable body to analyse the data and put it to use so that the Grid

serves the purpose of unclogging the system. [Para 6.11]

(d) Scheme of Action Research and Studies on Judicial Reforms

25. The Committee observes that though the allocation for the Project in BE 2018-19

has been doubled from that in BE 2017-18; however, there is still a shortfall of Rs 3.5

crore from the projected amount. The reduced allocation may impact the activities

proposed in the project in FY 2018-19, which centre around developing capacities of

marginalized people to secure justice and supporting justice delivery organisations in

serving people better. The Committee, therefore, recommends that adequate funds

should be made available at RE stage for the Project in FY 2018-19 so that the activities

proposed under the Project are not hampered. [Para 6.20]

Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for the Judiciary, including establishment of Gram Nyayalayas

26. The Committee appreciates the activities under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme

for Infrastructure Development for Subordinate Judiciary and is of the view that

infrastructure development of courts is critical for timely delivery of justice. The

Committee observes that for achieving the measurable targets of construction of 1000

court halls and 600 residential units per year, the Government has approved an outlay

of ₹ 3,320 crore for three years (Rs 1000 crore for 2017-18, Rs 1110 crore for 2018-19

and Rs 1210 for 2019-2020). However, so far reduced allocations have been made for the

Scheme. In 2017-18, there was a shortfall of around Rs 370 crore and in BE 2018-19, it

is Rs 480.80 crore. The Committee feels that such a huge reduction in allocation for this

Scheme would make it impossible to achieve the measurable targets, which would

ultimately affect the justice delivery system. The Committee, accordingly, recommends

that the allocation under the CSS may be suitably enhanced at the RE Stage so that the

activities under the scheme do not suffer. [Para 6.29]

Gram Nyayalayas

27. The pace of establishment of Gram Nyayalayas has been very slow; only 343

Gram Nyayalayas have been notified by 11 States so far and out of these only 210 are

functional in 9 States. The Committee has been expressing concern regarding this state

of affairs for a long time. The Committee has been of the view that delegation of


100

responsibility to establish Gram Nyayalayas to High Courts and State Governments in

Conference of Chief Justices of High Courts and Chief Ministers of the States since 2013

has not seen any heartening improvement. Therefore, in its Ninety-fourth, the

Committee had suggested that the Department should explore a tri-partite model so

that expertise of the Department could also be utilized in establishing Gram

Nyayalayas. The Committee also notes that the Evaluation agency of the Scheme,

National Productivity Council, has recommended for continuation of the Scheme with

detailed operational guidelines, enhanced central assistance and improved monitoring

mechanisms. [Para 6.36]

28. The Committee feels that though the institution of Gram Nyayalayas have not

achieved the objectives of either speedy disposal or inexpensive justice for the poor so

far but can still succeed if concrete, well planned and continuous efforts are made. The

Committee, therefore, suggests that the recommendations of the National Productivity

Council for preparation of detailed operational guidelines, enhanced central assistance

and improved monitoring mechanisms should be implemented immediately. The

Committee also reiterates its recommendation that the Department should explore a tri-

partite model so that expertise of the Department could also be utilized in establishing

Gram Nyayalayas. [Para 6.37]

29. The Committee appreciates the new initiatives of Nyaya Mitra Programme, Tele

Law Project and Pro Bono Legal Service Scheme launched by the Government to

improve access to justice and feels that all the three schemes are conceptually strong. As

these initiatives are presently at a nascent stage, their true potential would only be

known in the coming times. However, the Committee recommends that the Government

should take all necessary steps, including providing adequate financial backing, to make

these schemes successful on the ground level. [Para 6.45]

NON- SCHEME ALLOCATIONS

30. The Committee observes that the Academy has been in existence for more than

two decades now and substantial amount of public fund has already been spent on it. It

would, therefore, be useful for the Department to get a third party evaluation made of

the quality of training being imparted at the Academy and the extent to which training

at the Academy has resulted in strengthening the judicial system, so that shortcomings,

if any, could be removed. [Para 6.53]


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31. As per the Two Hundred and Sixty Eight Report of the Law Commission, 67 per

cent of India’s prison inmates are undertrial prisoners, who are presumable innocent

according to law. A majority of them (70.60 per cent) are illiterate or semiliterate and

belong to socio-economically marginalised groups. This has led to overcrowding of

prisons and violation of basic rights of prisoners. The Committee has been apprised of

the various measures being taken/proposed to taken by NALSA for undertrial prisoners

and convicts in jails, which include establishment of Legal Services Clinics in about

1070 jails to provide effective legal services, appointment of 9563 remand advocates,

working with undertrial Review Committees for release of prisoners who are entitled to

statutory bails, etc. Legal aid is a Constitutional imperative under Articles 14, 21 and 39

(A) of the Constitution of India. More so, Legal Services Act, 1987 has been enacted

with a view to provide legal aid and services to the indignant and vulnerable sections of

the society and promote legal awareness amongst them. To the query of the Committee

about the non-availability of Legal Services Clinics in certain jails, the Committee was

informed that 1070 Legal Services Clinics have been established various jails across the

country and in 168 jails it is yet to be established. The Committee is pained to note that

even after 30 years of the enactment of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, NALSA

has not be able to establish Legal Service Clinics in all the jails of the Country. The

Conditions of jails is the country is pitiable with overcrowding, lack of healthcare

facility etc. In many cases prisoners with petty criminal charges are made to stay with

hardened criminals, leading to the making of potential criminals in future. There must

be segregation of criminals based on the nature of charges against them and under-trial

prisoners who have served fifty-percent of their term should be released as per Section

436A of the CrPC. However, it is constrained to note that the Constitutional

commitment to provide legal aid services from the time the accused is produced before

the Magistrate for the first time and thereafter each time he/she is produced for

remand, is not being fulfilled. The experience at the ground level is that the accused do

not get representation from the time of first remand as claimed by NALSA. It is usually

at a much later stage and in many cases at the time of evidence. By that time it is too

late to protect the rights of the accused. Also, there are issues of insufficient briefing and

instructions to the panel lawyers, as well as non-availability of translated material, etc.

that comes in the way of cause of justice for these people. [Para 6.71]

32. The Committee, therefore, recommends that NALSA should re-examine the

ground realities and take all necessary measures, like establishment of Legal Services


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Clinics in all the jails, appointment of adequate number of remand advocates, working

with under trial Review Committees in close coordination, to ensure that the

constitutional rights of these prisoners are protected from the stage of first remand

itself and the prisons are decongested. [Para 6.72]

33. In most cases lawyers without much experience are empanelled who do not

understand the complexity of the crime. Also, in most cases the prisoners are unaware

of who is representing them and at what stage their case is. The Committee had

expressed displeasure over the quality of lawyers empanelled for providing legal aid in

its Ninety-first Report also. NALSA has informed that various steps are being taken to

appoint competent lawyers, including proposed amendment to the NALSA Free and

Competent Legal Services Regulations, 2010. The Committee also notes that the fee of the

panel lawyers has been recently enhanced by all SLSAs. It is a welcome step but the

Committee feels that it still may not be lucrative enough to attract talented lawyers. The

Committee feels that a lot more still needs to be done to attract talented lawyers and,

therefore, recommends that NALSA should take proactive measures to ensure that only

competent lawyers are appointed on the panel. The Committee also suggests that the

performance of the lawyers already on the panel should be reviewed periodically for

improved results. [Para 6.73]

34. The Committee notes that the projected demand of NALSA has been curtailed

by ₹ 60 crore, which may affect its working during the current financial year.

Furthermore, human resource constraints may also have impact on its functioning. The

Constitutional commitment of the State to afford equal opportunity to all to secure

justice may be hampered due to inadequacy of funds or human resource constraints.

The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Government should appropriately

enhance Grants-in-aid made available to the Authority and also take immediate

measures to fill vacant posts so that the activities of NALSA do not suffer. [Para 6.74]

SECOND NATIONAL JUDICIAL PAY COMMISSION (SNJPC)

35. The Committee is happy to note that the Government has constituted the Second

National Judicial Pay Commission to examine the pay/emoluments/service conditions of

subordinate judiciary in the country. The pay scales of judicial officers are not uniform

across the country. The objective of the Commission for bringing parity amongst the

judges (5927) in subordinate courts of similar rank across the States is laudable. The


103

Committee is of the view that the recommendations of the Commission would help in

strengthening subordinate judiciary, thereby promoting judicial efficiency and

administration in the country. [Para 6.76]

VACANCIES AND PENDENCY OF CASES IN SUBORDINATE COURTS

36. The Committee is concerned with the large number of vacancy positions of

judicial officers and judges in subordinate judiciary. As per the data available, at

present 5927 positions of judicial officers are vacant in different States. The Vacancy is

highest in the States of Uttar Pradesh (1348), Bihar (835), Madhya Pradesh (728),

Gujarat (375) and Tamil Nadu (341). Since appointment of subordinate judicial officers

falls under the domain of State Government, the Committee recommends the

Department of Justice to impress upon the State Government to initiate appointment of

judicial officers. The Committee is of the view that recruitment and training of judicial

personnel and supporting staffs at Subordinate Courts may help in reducing the

pendency of cases and the judge-population ratio may be corrected by appointing more

judges in the Subordinate Courts to reduce pendency. The Committee further

recommends the Department to explore the option of creation of All India Judicial

Services to fill-up the vacancies. [Para 6.80]

37. The Committee is pained to note that huge pendency of cases exists in the

Subordinate Judiciary. The pendency is highest in the States of Uttar Pradesh

(6161822), Maharashtra (3336574), West Bengal (1770820), Bihar (1658292) and

Gujarat (1641355).The Committee in its 67th Report on the Infrastructure Development

and Strengthening of Subordinate Courts (2014) expressed its serious concern over the

large number of vacancies existing in the Subordinate Courts and recommended that

vacancies of judicial officers need to be filled-up as both vacancy of judicial officers and

pendency of cases are closely related to each other. The Committee further

recommended that regular conducting of morning/evening, holiday courts, lokadalats,

alternative dispute redressal mechanisms etc., wherever feasible, can help in reducing

the problem of pendency of cases in Subordinate Judiciary. Sincere efforts are also

required on the part of State governments to fill the existing vacancies in the

Subordinate Courts, so that the disposal rate of cases may be enhanced. [Para 6.81]


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VACANCIES AND PENDENCY OF CASES IN SUPREME COURT AND HIGH COURTS

38. The Committee is concerned with the large number of vacancies of Judges in

High Courts and also took note of problem in its Eighty-seventh and Ninety-first

Reports. The vacancy of judges in very high in High Courts of Allahabad (56),

Karnataka (38), Calcutta ( 39), Punjab& Haryana (35), Telangana & Andhra Pradesh

(30) and Bombay (24). The Committee notes that the guidelines laid in the Supreme

Court Advocates-on-Record Association and another vs. Union of India (1993), popularly

known as Second Judges Case, for the appointment of judges are not being adhered to

by the High Courts, which is the responsibility of the Supreme Court in its

administrative side to direct the concerned High Courts to initiate the process of filling-

up the vacancies in advance. The Committee is of the view that to reduce pendency of

cases, the existing vacancy positions of judges need to be filled up immediately and the

vacancies arising in future should be filled strictly as per the guidelines in the Second

Judges Case. The Committee in its Eighty-seventh Report on “Inordinate Delay in

Filling up the Vacancies in the Supreme Court and High Courts” recommended for

raising the age of retirement of Supreme Court judges to 67 years and of High Court

judges to 65 years. The Committee again reiterates its recommendation as it feels that it

would help in retaining the existing judges, which in turn would help in reducing both

vacancy and pendency of cases in the short run. [Para 6.86]

SCHEDULED LANGUAGES IN HIGHER JUDICIARY

39. The Committee has examined the above issue in its earlier Reports also, viz.

Seventy-fifth and Eighty-fourth Reports on the Demands for Grants (2015-16 & 2016-

17), and had observed that Article 348 provides for the use of Official language of the

State, other than English, with the consent of the Governor of the State in the High

Court of that State. The Committee had, accordingly, recommended that official

languages of the State other than English may be permitted to be used in the High

Courts, provided it is demanded by the concerned State Government. The Committee

was further of the view that the consultation process with judiciary is not required as

the Constitutional provisions are amply clear on the use of Scheduled Languages in the

High Courts and accordingly, the use of official languages should be decided as per the

mandate of Article 348. The Committee reiterates its above recommendations.

[Para 6.89]


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REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN JUDICIARY

40. Since Independence, only 6 women judges have been appointed in the Supreme

Court of India, first being in 1989. The Committee, accordingly, desires that the Bench

of Higher Judiciary be reflective of composition of the society and its diversity and

recommends that suitable measures be taken to include more and more Women judges

in both Higher and Subordinate Judiciary. Certain States like Bihar (35 percent),

Andhra Pradesh (33.33) Odisha (33.33), Telangana (33.33, Assam (30 percent),

Rajasthan (30 percent) Tamil Nadu (30 percent), Karnataka (30 percent), Uttrakhand

(30), Uttar Pradesh (20 percent) and Jharkhand (5 percent) have introduced reservation

for women in subordinate judiciary. The Committee is further of the view that quota of

supernumerary (over and above the actual intake) as done in the case of Indian Institute

of Technology may be replicated in the admission of five year law programmes,

particularly in the National Law Universities. The Committee reiterates the

recommendation in its Eighty-fourth Report on the Demands for Grants (2016-17) that

the strength of women judges should be around 50 percent of the total strength of the

judges. The Committee desires that the Department should request the State

Governments to introduce quota for women in Law Universities and subordinate

judiciary recruitment. [Para 6.92]

CHAPTER – VII

41. The Committee notes that out of 251 crores in BE (2018-19), which is a

decrease of 4 crore against RE (2017-18), 40 lakh is proposed under the head

‘Publication’. The Committee also notes that the Supreme Court has not been able to

spend funds allotted to it under the head ‘Publication’ in BE (2016-17), as only 14.94

lakh were spent out of the allocation of 20 lakh under the said head. As per the

Official Languages Act, 1963, every Government department is required to publish

documents in Hindi version, along with English. The Committee accordingly adjures

the Registrar, Supreme Court of India to publish report in Hindi. [Para 7.2]

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report no. 96

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