DRAFT GUIDELINES FOR

PERFORMANCE AUDIT ON

MODERNISATION OF JUDICIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Office of the Principal Accountant General (General and Social Sector Audit)

Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Chennai-18.

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INDEX

Sl. No. Content Page No.

01 Introduction 3

02 Infrastructure 4

03 Organisational set up 5

04 Funding pattern 6

05 Scope of Audit 9

06 Audit coverage 10

07 Audit Objectives 10

08 Audit Criteria 11

09 Sample selection 11

10 Audit Design Matrix 12

11 Time schedule 12

Annexure 13

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Guidelines for Performance Audit on

“Modernisation of Judicial Infrastructure”

1. Introduction

Administration of Justice is one of the fundamental functions of any Government.

The Policy of the Government of Tamil Nadu (GTN) is to ensure justice to all citizens

according to the principles enshrined in the Constitution of India. GTN is committed to

guarantee the independence of judiciary in the State, and to facilitate the expeditious

dispensation of justice.

The High Court is the highest Court of Justice in the State of Tamil Nadu which

is functioning as Principal Bench at Chennai and Branch at Madurai. Besides dispensing

Justice, the High Court exercises full administrative control over the entire Subordinate

Judiciary in the State of Tamil Nadu including Union Territory of Puducherry.

The Civil Courts are constituted under the Madras City Civil Court Act in the

City of Chennai and under the Civil Courts Act in other districts. Other Courts1are also

functioning in the city of Chennai and other districts. Criminal Courts are constituted in

the city of Chennai and in other districts under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court was functioning from 24 July

2004 with the jurisdiction of the 13 districts2.

Further, Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority (TNLSA) functions under Article

39 (A) of the Constitution of India with the Hon’ble Chief Justice as the Patron-in-Chief.

The objective of TNLSA was to provide free legal aid to weaker sections of the society,

organise Lok Adalats on a statutory basis as an Alternative Dispute Resolution Forum,

with its State level authority located in High Court, Chennai, District level units located

1 Small Causes, Labour Court, Industrial Tribunal, State Transport Appellate Tribunal, Special Court under

EC & NDPS Act, Special Court under TNPID Act and Mahalir Neethimandram

2 Dindigul, Kanniyakumari, Karur, Madurai, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Sivagangai, Thanjavur,

Theni, Thoothukudi, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, and Virudhunagar

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in each of the District Headquarters and its Taluk Legal Services Committees situated in

each of the Taluk Headquarters.

Tribunals are established under various Acts headed by Judges nominated by

Madras High Court. In Tamil Nadu, there are one Industrial Tribunal, Three Sales Tax

Appellate Tribunal, one State Transport Appellate Tribunal and eight Taxation Appeal

Tribunals.

Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy at Chennai with two Regional Centres at

Coimbatore and Madurai are also functioning as training centres to impart training to

Judicial Officers (Judges in various cadres) to keep them in pace with the emerging legal,

social and technological trends.

2. Infrastructure

Infrastructure is one of the essential elements in improving administration of

Justice and in expeditious disposal of cases. The Supreme Court of India in National

Court Management Systems scheme stressed the need for greater allocation of funds for

planning, creation, development and maintenance of judicial infrastructure and defined

that Infrastructure comprises of buildings, furniture, amenities, computers, libraries etc.

Modernisation of infrastructure includes replacement of old and out-dated court

buildings by standardised modern court buildings coupled with addition of more court

rooms to the existing buildings and more court complexes with provisions for

computerisation.

Under computerisation, E-Courts Integrated Mission Mode Project is one of the

National e-governance projects implemented in High Courts and sub-ordinate Courts.

With the objective of enhancing judicial productivity both qualitatively and

quantitatively as also making the justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost

effective, transparent and accountable, a National Policy and Action Plan for

implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Indian

judiciary was prepared by E-Committee, Supreme Court of India, New Delhi in August

2005. Phasing of the Action Plan to be implemented in five years from the date of

effective commencement is given as Annexure 1.

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2.1. Details of Infrastructure

In Tamil Nadu, there are 974 Courts (excluding TNLSA, Lok adalats and

Tribunals) of which 108 Courts are in Chennai city. These 974 Courts are housed in 264

buildings of which 181 buildings with 859 Courts are located in own buildings. 24

Courts are functioning in 13 various Government Department buildings and 105 Courts

have been functioning in 95 rental buildings. Besides Court buildings, there are 30

Alternate Dispute Resolution Centres at district level, where in Lok Adalats are being

conducted.

Under e-Courts Project, 229 Court buildings were covered for modernisation

under Phase I and software used therein are customized version of Ubuntu Operating

System and Case Information System Software (CIS). Filing, scrutiny, registration,

allocation of cases, cause-list generation, hosting of judgements etc. are done using CIS

software. Another component of e-Courts viz work of interlinking of 23 Courts with

eight Central Prisons was also taken up and is under progress.

3. Organisational set up

The Home, Prohibition and Excise Department headed by the Principal Secretary

to Government is responsible for administration of Justice at Government level. The

functions of Government inter-alia include constitution of various courts wherever

necessary, providing additional infrastructural facilities and other requirements of the

Judiciary.

The Hon’ble Chief Justice is the Head of the Judiciary with powers of

administration of the High Court including Madurai Bench and other subordinate courts

in the State. The Hon’ble Chief Justice is in charge of the general policy adopted in the

Administration of Justice. In addition to the Chief Justice, there are 60 sanctioned posts

of Hon’ble Judges in Madras High Court including Madurai Bench.

The administration of Justice in the Civil and Criminal Courts in the districts of

Tamil Nadu is carried out by Judges of various cadres (Judicial officers). The District

Judge / Principal District Judge of the District is having overall administrative control of

all the Civil and Criminal Courts in the entire District.

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The Registrar General exercises supervision and control over the establishment of

the High Court on the Original and Appellate side and assisted by four Registrars viz

Registrar (Administration), Registrar (Judicial), Registrar (Vigilance) and Registrar

(Management). His duties are mainly administrative and supervisory.

In respect of Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, the Registrar

(Administration) is the administrative head and the Registrar (Judicial) is looking after

judicial aspects.

4. Funding Pattern

4.1. State budget:

Funds for the administration of Madras High Court, Madurai Bench of Madras

High Court and other sub-ordinate Courts in districts are provided in the budget of GoTN

under the heads ‘Plan’ and ‘Non-plan’.

Plan funds relate to construction of quarters (provided under Capital head of

account of Housing Department), construction of Court buildings (provided under

Capital head of account of Public Works Department (PWD)) and pay and allowances

and office expenditure relating to Courts constituted for specific purpose (provided under

Revenue Head of account of High Court). Non-plan funds relate to pay and allowances

and office expenditure relating to High Court and other sub-ordinate Courts, maintenance

of court buildings, quarters for judges, vehicles etc. PWD is responsible for construction

and maintenance of Court buildings and construction of quarters for Judges.

Details of allocation of funds by GoTN and expenditure incurred during the years

2011-12 to 2014-15 are given below:

(Rupees in crore)

Year Plan Non-Plan

BE RE Actuals BE RE Actuals

2011-12 26.99 32.89 32.53 6.31 5.98 5.97

2012-13 17.98 14.79 15.07 7.20 5.85 5.84

2013-14 25.34 29.21 29.23 6.97 6.51 6.58

2014-15 29.01 27.82 28.60 7.66 7.36 7.55

TOTAL 99.32 104.71 105.43 28.14 25.70 25.94

Source: Extract from Appropriation accounts

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4.2. Central Government Funds:

The Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India has

been providing funds for implementing Centrally Sponsored Scheme from the year 1993-

94 for development of infrastructure facilities viz construction of court buildings and

residential accommodation of Judges and Judicial Officers covering both High Court and

sub-ordinate Courts to augment the resources of the State Government. Expenditure

under the scheme is equally shared between the Centre and the State Government (50:50)

up to the year 2011-12 and revised as 75:25 from the year 2012-13 onwards. From the

year 2011-12, the scheme was restricted to subordinate judiciary i.e. to Courts at District

level.

An amount of Rs 58.35 crore was released by GoI during the years from 1993-

94 to 2009-10. An amount of Rs.3.37 crore for the year 2010-11 and Rs.14.97 crore for

the year 2011-12 were allocated by the GoI under this scheme, but not released due to

delay in submission of utilization certificate for the funds released during earlier years.

Details of funds released by GoI, GoTN and expenditure thereon during the period from

2011-12 to 2015-16 are given below.

(Rupees in crore)

Year Sharing

pattern

Amount

released

by GOI

State

share

as per

sharing

pattern

Total

grant

Amount released by GTN Expenditure

incurred (as

of 02/15)

Central

share

State

share

Total

2011-12 50:50 Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil

2012-13 75:25 19.53 6.51 26.04 19.53 6.31 25.84 21.62

2013-14 75:25 73.43 24.48 97.91 73.43 24.47 97.90

2014-15 75:25 Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil

2015-16 75:25 Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil

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4.3. Central Finance Commission grants:

Central Finance Commissions are recommending grants for improving

infrastructure in judiciary so as to reduce number of cases pending in Courts. Under

XIII Finance Commission for the period 2010-15, a grant of Rs 309.50 crore was

allocated by GOI for improvement of justice delivery, construction of Alternate Dispute

Redressal (ADR) Centres and for the creation of post of Court Managers to help the

Judicial Officers in administrative matters. Against the allocation, Rs 146.12 crore was

released by GOI of which Rs.125.91 crore was utilized as of 31 March 2015.

4.4. Funding for E-Court Mission Project

The E-Committee, through National Informatics Centre (NIC), New Delhi had

provided funds for site preparation work in High Court, District Headquarters and Taluk

level Courts in Tamil Nadu for procurement and installaition of hardware such as

Servers, thin clients, slim clients, printers and other peripherals including Diesel

Generator sets in all district headquarters and taluk level Courts.

For implementation of the e-courts project, one Senior System Officer, one

system officer and two system Assistants in Madras High Court, one system officer and

two system Assistants in Madurai bench of Madras High Court and 30 system officers

with system Assistants in 30 districts and UTP were deployed.

824 Judicial Officers were provided with laptops during the period from 2007 to

2010. During 2008, GOI provided broadband facility to the residence of the Judicial

Officers for a period of two years. Thereafter, GoTN provided funds for continuation of

broadband facility through ELCOT.

Details of funds released by NIC and its utilization as of November 2015 are

given below:

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(Rupees in lakh)

Description

Amount

released

by NIC*

Date of

release

Amount

utilized

Amount

refunded

to NIC

Balance

available

Site preparation work 418.12 13.10.2008

to

29.09.2011

415.75

2.22 0.15

VPN over broad band

connection

48.61 16.10.2012

to

30.03.2015

47.11 0.80 0.70

Contingency Fund 17.75 19.10.2012 8.27 9.48 0

Process re-engineering 4.00 21.11.2015 3.86 0.14 0

Video conferencing for

Courts and Jails

1.12 30.03.2015 0.94 0 0.18

Diesel Generator sets 230.74 12.02.2010

to

12.03.2012

220.15 10.48 0.11

Data entry of pending cases 55.83 09.03.2011 34.31 0 21.52

Salary and allowances to

technical man power

195.58 May 2011 to

October 2015

170.71 0 24.87

Total 971.75 901.10 23.12 47.53

*Puchase of computers and accessories were made directly by NIC and hence the details of

purchases are not available in High Court, Chennai

5. Scope of Audit

Audit would verify whether modern infrastructure facilities as per National

Judicial Infrastructure Plan such as buildings, quarters, furniture, computers with

necessary accessories were available. Provision of basic amenities including generator

sets in the Court buildings were created, periodical maintenance of the buildings,

availability of modernized record room to safeguard the case records, correctness of

stock maintained by the Courts and availability of modern library system with all

facilities with furniture and computers in all Court complexes. Audit of courts located in

Tamil Nadu and construction and maintenance of courts, executed by Public Works

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Department (PWD) would be reviewed through records available at Courts and covered

in this Audit. Hence the scope does not include

TNLSA, Lok Adalats and Tribunals located in Tamil Nadu

Courts and other alternative redressal forums located in UT of Puducherry

Selection of contractors, execution of works and maintenance works by PWD

Under e-Court project, the actual implementation of the project as per the Action

Plan would be verified along with functioning of the e-court and its impact in improving

the efficiency of the judicial system.

6. Audit coverage

The period of coverage would be five years from 2011-12 to 2015-16.

The records relating to the above will be scrutinized at the Secretariat, High Court

Office, selected District Courts offices and at the National Informatics Centers in State

and districts for collection of data relating to computerization of judicial process.

7. Audit objectives

The objectives of Performance audit were to review whether:

the plan for modernisation of the judicial infrastructure was adequate;

the funds provided for modernization was adequate and whether they

were utilised in a timely fashion;

creation and development of infrastructure was executed economically

and efficiently; and

it is maintained as per norms and utilized fully and whether such

operation and maintenance is monitored.

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8. Audit Criteria

The criteria based on which the Audit would be conducted are

National Judicial Infrastructure Plan

National Policy and Action Plan for implementation of Information and

Communication Technology in the Indian Judiciary

Action Plan for National Court Management Systems issued by Supreme Court

of India

Scheme Guidelines/ instructions, sanction letters releasing funds under 13th

Finance Commission, Centrally Sponsored Schemes etc. of Government of India

Government Orders of Government of Tamil Nadu

Guidelines/Orders/norms issued by the Monitoring Committees formed for

augmentation of Judicial Infrastructure

9. Sample selection

All the districts in Tamil Nadu State are divided into four Zones based on

geographical area. The following eight districts are selected based on simple random

sampling through IDEA package.

1. Krishnagiri

2. Kancheepuram

3. Erode

4. Dindigul

5. Cuddalore

6. Tiruchirappalli

7. Madurai

8. Tirunelveli

All the Court buildings and quarters in the selected districts would be verified in Audit.

As regards e-Courts project, the implementation would be verified in 15 per cent of the

Courts selected through random sampling in the eight districts.

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10. Audit Design Matrix

Audit Design Matrix is prepared (Annexure 2) on the basis of information

collected during the course of pilot study. Each question is derived from the audit

objective or audit sub-objective which they support. All the study questions are linked

with appropriate audit criteria, the requirement of evidence, the source/method of

gathering the evidence and analysis of evidence to arrive at a conclusion.

11. Time schedule

The following time schedule is proposed.

01 Entry Conference and commencement of field visit 01.03.2016

02 Mid term review by Hqrs. 15.07.2016

03 Completion of field visit 05.08.2016

04 Issue of FN 15.08.2016

05 Exit Conference and issue of Draft Report to Hqrs. 15.09.2016

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Annexure 1

Phase Action proposed

I

First

Year

Network Architecture Plan and Feasibility Study - Prepare specifications of

hardware and associated software that would need to be installed

Preparation of dedicated website for the Judicial system - To create

comprehensive and informative website with linkages to National Judicial

Data Centre which would have entry form modules, report forms, statistical

information etc

Creation of National Judicial Data Grid - For warehousing all the critical data

concerning functioning of Indian Courts

Providing laptop to Judicial Officers - To enable judges to use judicial

database and access information from judicial website

Creation of computer centre in court complexes to ensure smooth operations

This would enable face-to-face interaction between the judge and the prisoner

without the prisoner having physically brought to the court premise

Phase I

Second

year

Extension of computer and support facilities to Judges chamber, court hall,

filing section, certified copy section and process branch - Information relating

to status of the cases and certified copy applications would be available to the

public / litigant through Enquiry counters as also on the internet

Wireless LAN/ internet connectivity at Supreme Court and High Court

complexes - To promote use of ICT in the judicial system and information

flow would be seamless which would be beneficial for all concerned

Phase II

Two

years

Create and develop video-conferencing, digital archives, inter-connectivity of

law libraries, digitalization of legal tools like case laws and statute laws,

wireless LAN -

Implementation of software for judicial process at all levels including

libraries - General management of various process of the court to minimize

procedural delays and a proper Management Information System in place

Creation of reliable critical infrastructure i.e DG sets, UPS, air conditioning,

lease line connectivity, sufficient inventory of hardware

IT training activities and extension of training programme

Phase

III –

one

year

Extending the computerization activities to new courts in the same or new

court complexes, integrated digital document management system with digital

inventory of files, properties with digital signature, digital system integration

with external entities like police, treasury, jail registration office etc,

installation of biometric system, creation of information gateways between

court services and government agencies.