The Punjab and Haryana High Court issued notice to the Union Government and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging systemic and prolonged delays in the national e-Jagriti consumer justice portal.
The PIL, filed by advocate Rajavikrant Sharma, alleged that repeated dysfunction and outages on the portal have created a “digital lockdown” across India’s consumer legal system, severely restricting access to justice for lakhs of consumers and advocates.
The petition contends that the dysfunctional state of e-Jagriti has forced litigants to file consumer cases offline, as mandatory e-filing was non-operational. The PIL highlights a complete collapse of digital consumer services following the discontinuation of previous portals like Confonet and E-Daakhil, leaving no means for tracking cases, viewing orders, or accessing judgement lists and cause lists.
The petitioner argued the absence of accessibility tools disproportionately harms senior citizens, non-tech-savvy individuals, linguistic minorities, and those from economically weaker backgrounds, violating fundamental rights under Articles 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sheel Berry has fixed the next hearing on 13 January 2026.
