Court establishment
A court establishment is a single 'unit' of a court as counted on various judicial tech platforms/systems. On eCourt India Services,[1] High Courts and District courts are divided into court complexes, and within those, into court establishments.
The exact definition of court establishment is slightly unclear and not provided in any official reports (as of 8th January 2024). However, it is understood as a function of a specific judge's name, designation and fixed court hall.
Types of Court Establishment
Judicial
A single-court establishment can operate through multiple Court judges of the same designation. The Court establishments under District and Taluka courts can be classified as District and Session Judge, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Civil Judge, Commercial Court, Family Court, Fast Track Court, Special Court, Railway Courts etc.
Administrative
Court Establishment refers to the overall organization and structure of the judiciary, encompassing the different levels of courts and their personnel. court establishments are classified as Subordinate Court establishments and High Court establishments based on organisational structure, jurisdiction and hierarchy. Each court establishment has an administrative head, responsible for appointments and supervision of court staff - the Court establishment can be determined based on authority like the appointing authority or reporting authority as prescribed under the rules applicable to such court establishment.
Official Database
eCourts website
The case information from eCourts can be retrieved by stating the court establishment. The court establishment for e-courts is essentially the designation of single-judge under which the matter is listed and is determined by the nature of the case and its jurisdiction.
Case Information System
The CIS 3.0 provides for the creation of summary reports for each court establishment. These summary reports provide first-hand knowledge about any establishment through reports like
(I) Establishment at a glance
Establishment as a glance provides information the relating to number of cases filed and the socio-economic demographic profile of the parties to the case. ex-cases by senior citizens, social categories like SC/ST/OBC/NT/Other and Gender.
(ii) Summary of Establishment
Summary report of establishment provides a daily summary of the status of instituted cases (as of date)
(iii) Undated cases report
(iv) Institution Disposal Report
Establishment wise Data under District court NJDG
The CIS provides Statistics related to pendency numbers in court establishment. It is an important administrative tool for the administrative Judges to make decisions abou which court needs bifurcation, which court needs urgent judges, and which is the lowest pending court in the district.
National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)
The NJDG provides several court establishments per state as part of the summary report available under data monitoring. It is a very comprehensive report on various aspects of Courts under the following heads: state-wise; Total Districts; Total Court complexes; Total establishments; Total Cases; Total Orders; and Orders Not Uploaded.
