New Delhi, Jun 18 (PTI) The Public Works Department (PWD) of Delhi government plans to rework the Rs 387-crore courtrooms digitisation project, which was approved by the previous AAP dispensation last year.
Despite the approval in October to digitise 691 courtrooms across the city, the project did not start due to changes in construction specifications and technical issues with financial implications, government officials said.
The work has to be executed by the PWD, for which a fund of Rs 387 crore was also approved by the Expenditure and Finance Committee (E&FC).
"The earlier tender invited has been scrapped because there are changes to be made in construction specifications and other major technical issues that have financial implications," an official said.
In November last year, the PWD invited bids from private contractors for the project. After the pre-bid meeting with companies, changes were required in the project. For which the PWD sent a proposal to the Delhi High Court in January 2025 for its approval of the changes. The approval was issued in March this year, the officials said.
Then again, a modified notice inviting tender was issued on March 18 this year. After the pre-bid meeting, again, changes were requested.
"The same was again submitted to the Delhi High Court for approval in April 2025, the final approval for which is awaited," the official added.
In 2021, the high court had asked the Delhi government to work out a plan for digitization of courts, which includes setting up IT infrastructure to implement a hybrid system for hearing and live streaming in all courts.
The first such hybrid court was launched at Tis Hazari Court in July 2024. This project features facilities like speech-to-text technology.
However, the work has not moved further. It is estimated that after the award of the project, it will be completed in eight months.
According to the officials, the specifications of the equipment were approved by the National Informatics Centre last year. The cost of the project includes installation and maintenance of the equipment for five years.
Now, the PWD plans to issue a fresh tender for the project after the technical changes are approved.
The department is also working on the construction of a new family court complex in Rohini, for which bids have been received from contractors, and they are under evaluation, the officials said.