Odisha Digitises 42.96 Lakh Court Records Under e-Courts Project

27 Jul 2026, 10:57 by Vinay Kakkad · KalingaTV

Odisha has equipped nearly all of its district and subordinate courts with digital infrastructure under the Centre’s e-Courts Mission Mode Project, marking significant progress in the state’s transition towards a technology-driven judicial system, Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal informed the Rajya Sabha.

In a written reply, the minister said the e-Courts Project is being implemented across Odisha under the supervision of the Orissa High Court as part of the Centre’s broader initiative to strengthen the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the judiciary. The programme is being executed by the Department of Justice in coordination with the eCommittee of the Supreme Court of India through a decentralised framework involving individual High Courts.

According to the data shared by the minister, 817 of Odisha’s 845 courts and 203 of its 215 court complexes have already been provided with ICT hardware under Phase III of the e-Courts Project. The current phase of the programme covers the 2023-2027 period.

The digitisation drive has also made substantial progress in court record management. As of June 30, 2026, a total of 42.96 lakh legacy case records, comprising 24.17 crore pages, had been digitised across the Orissa High Court and district courts.

Odisha has also expanded paperless judicial functioning. At present, 18 benches of the High Court and 343 district judiciary courts are operating in paperless mode using PDF-based tools that enable digital access to case files and court proceedings.

Digital integration has extended to court administration as well. All 30 district court websites in the state have been migrated to the S3WAAS platform, while 320 court establishments under the district judiciary have shifted from the Case Information System (CIS) 3.0 to the upgraded CIS 4.0 platform.

The integration of courts with the Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) has also accelerated information exchange. Since January 1, 2026, the Case Information System has processed data relating to 3.10 lakh First Information Reports (FIRs) and 2.29 lakh chargesheets through the ICJS platform.

Electronic filing has now been rolled out across all courts in Odisha through e-Filing 3.0. The minister informed Parliament that 1.31 lakh cases had been filed electronically up to June 30, 2026.

Virtual court proceedings continue to expand as well. Video conferencing facilities have been enabled in every court across the state, facilitating 7.61 lakh virtual hearings by the end of June this year.

To improve access to judicial services, particularly in remote regions, 184 eSewa Kendras have also been established across Odisha.

The Union government also outlined the financial support provided under Phase III of the e-Courts Project. The Orissa High Court received a sanctioned allocation of ₹9.79 crore in 2023-24, of which ₹6.77 crore was utilised. In 2024-25, ₹58.48 crore was sanctioned and ₹53.24 crore spent. During 2025-26, utilisation stood at ₹14.12 crore against a sanctioned amount of ₹16.09 crore. For 2026-27, ₹7.09 crore has been sanctioned, with ₹0.43 crore utilised as of July 17, 2026.

The minister said the ongoing phase of the e-Courts Mission aims to digitise pending, disposed and historical case records on a large scale to ensure their long-term preservation, quicker retrieval, reduced dependence on physical storage and easier access for litigants, advocates and judicial officers. The project also seeks to establish a comprehensive digital and paperless court ecosystem capable of supporting the complete lifecycle of a case through end-to-end digital processes.

To facilitate further expansion of digital judicial services, a tripartite agreement has been signed among the Orissa High Court, the Government of Odisha and the Government of India, enabling the release of funds required for implementing the next stages of the initiative.