DRISTI, the Dispute Resolution Intelligent System for Transformation, is the open-source platform that powers PUCAR’s 24x7 Open and Networked Courts. It is not a digitisation of paper processes: it redesigns the court journey end to end, so that filing, scrutiny, summons, bail, hearings and orders all work the way you would build them today, natively digital, rule-based, and connected to the institutions around the court.
Built in the open as a Digital Public Good, DRISTI is PUCAR’s contribution to Phase III of India’s eCourts project, which calls for exactly this: open, interoperable infrastructure, shared data standards, and reimagined processes. A litigant should be proactively informed, a lawyer should file in minutes from anywhere, a judge should act on structured information, and none of them should run pillar to post.
Five levers of transformation
01
Integrated
The court is digitally connected to police, post and treasury. Summons, fees and processes move between institutions in real time, with tracking.
02
Asynchronous
Key case actions happen without everyone standing in the same room at the same time. Cognizance, submissions and many hearings proceed on their own clock.
03
Proactive
The court reaches out first: SMS alerts tell litigants where their case stands and what to do next, instead of leaving them to chase updates.
04
Assisted
Rule-based guidance helps lawyers file complete cases in about 30 minutes, helps staff scrutinise them, and helps judges act on structured information.
05
Data driven
A live public dashboard shows how the court is performing, stage by stage, so processes and policies evolve on evidence rather than anecdote.
The platform
From 1.0 to 2.0.
The first generation proved the model in a real court. The second is being rebuilt around everything that court taught us.
1.0Live in Kollam
The proven foundation.
Built as a Digital Public Good on the DIGIT platform: a rules-based system that runs the 24x7 ON Court today, wired into police, post, treasury and SMS.
2.0 starts from the lessons of running a real court: intelligence woven through the platform rather than rules bolted on, and a system light enough to live on the court’s own hardware.
AI-native from the first line of code
Standards-compliant by default
Lightweight: one deployable, on-premise
Bespoke to each court, configurable by its own staff
ON Courts in Kollam is the first running instance of DRISTI. Work with new High Courts is underway; each state lights up here as it goes live.
24x7 ON Court, Kollam
Live since 20 November 2024 under the High Court of Kerala. It accepts cheque dishonour cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act arising from all 20+ police stations in Kollam district, and it never closes: a court that goes to people, instead of people going to courts.
24x7 ON Court, Thrissur
The ON Court model is expanding within Kerala, and Thrissur is on the roadmap. The same platform, the same people-first redesign of the court journey; it will light up here the day it goes live.
Coming soon
1,995cases filed in a court that did not exist two years ago
164 daysmedian time to disposal. The conventional baseline: about 2 years
7Median hearings to disposal
98%Hearings held as scheduled
878Advocates on the platform
1,821Litigants using it
Figures pulled from the public ON Courts dashboard, last synced 20 Jul 2026, 10:36 am IST. 80% of disposed cases end in withdrawal: parties settle directly once the process is credible and predictable.
Adoption is accelerating
Cases filed and disposed each quarter since the court opened. Filings have grown five-fold, and disposals are keeping pace.
From the public dashboard, July 2026. The quarter in progress is not shown.
The journey, before and after
Median stage times for cheque dishonour cases, conventional process versus the ON Court redesign.
Filing to registrationThe lawyer submits the case; the court checks it for defects and takes it on record.10 days→Same day
Registration to cognizanceThe court formally takes notice of the complaint so the case can move forward.150 days→7 days
Summons and bailThe accused is officially notified of the case, appears, and the question of bail is settled.300 days→52 days
Between hearingsThe wait from one hearing to the next.60 days→14 days
Filing to disposalThe whole journey, from submitting the case to its resolution.~600 days→~140 days
The race: fourteen districts, one year
Share of January 2025 cheque dishonour filings resolved, day by day, across Kerala’s districts. The ON Court starts near the back of the pack and finishes first.
#14 → #1ON Court rank over one year
39% vs 11%resolved at one year, ON Court vs Kerala average
~Day 306the ON Court overtakes the last district ahead of it
ON Court rank#1Day 0
ON Court, KollamAll Kerala (average)Other districts
Final overtakeON Court reaches #1Around day 306
Kaplan-Meier estimates, January 2025 filing cohort, tracked through day 417. "Rest of Kollam" is the district excluding the ON Court. Malappuram is not shown.
What people tell us
Advocates
94%are satisfied with the overall experience
76%say it has improved the court process
Litigants
66%say SMS updates help them follow their case
53%say their case is progressing faster
PUCAR user survey, 2025. Collected by survey, not from the live dashboard.
“In my experience, the court is completely paperless and filing is very easy. Now it only takes me 10 to 20 minutes to file a case.”
Asha G.V Advocate, the first filer at the ON Court
“The launch is just the beginning of the journey. Progress is not a destination, it is an ongoing journey of knowledge, debate, community and continuous refinement.”
Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan Computer Committee, High Court of Kerala
Work with the High Court of Punjab and Haryana is underway. The Panchkula ON Court is being prepared on the same platform and the same people-first redesign proven in Kollam; it will light up here the day it opens.
Coming soon
24x7 ON Court, Gurgaon
Work with the High Court of Punjab and Haryana is underway. The Gurgaon ON Court is being prepared on the same platform and the same people-first redesign proven in Kollam; it will light up here the day it opens.
Coming soon
24x7 ON Court, Chandigarh
Work with the High Court of Punjab and Haryana is underway. The Chandigarh ON Court is being prepared on the same platform and the same people-first redesign proven in Kollam; it will light up here the day it opens.
Coming soon
24x7 ON Court, Mohali
Work with the High Court of Punjab and Haryana is underway. The Mohali ON Court is being prepared on the same platform and the same people-first redesign proven in Kollam; it will light up here the day it opens.
Coming soon
SARAS 2.0 Court, Ahmedabad
Work with the Gujarat High Court is underway. The Ahmedabad SARAS 2.0 Court is being prepared on the same platform and the same people-first redesign proven in Kollam; it will light up here the day it opens.
Coming soon
SARAS 2.0 Court, Rajkot
Work with the Gujarat High Court is underway. The Rajkot SARAS 2.0 Court is being prepared on the same platform and the same people-first redesign proven in Kollam; it will light up here the day it opens.
Coming soon
SARAS 2.0 Court, Vadodara
Work with the Gujarat High Court is underway. The Vadodara SARAS 2.0 Court is being prepared on the same platform and the same people-first redesign proven in Kollam; it will light up here the day it opens.
Coming soon
SARAS 2.0 Court, Surat
Work with the Gujarat High Court is underway. The Surat SARAS 2.0 Court is being prepared on the same platform and the same people-first redesign proven in Kollam; it will light up here the day it opens.
Coming soon
Collaborate
Citizen tools should be citizen-shaped.
DRISTI is the tool citizens will meet on the hardest days of their lives, so it is built in the open, by the people it serves: lawyers, judges, court staff, engineers, designers, researchers. This is the live board of open work on the platform. Pick up a piece of it.
DevHigh
Paid · PermanentHow might we make DRISTI 2.0 work for a litigant on a 2G phone?Own the litigant-facing web experience of the open-source Online Dispute Resolution platform: accessibility-first, multilingual, low-bandwidth.
VolunteerHow might we make DRISTI 2.0 reflect the litigant's real journey?Interview litigants, lawyers, and court staff to map the real experience of navigating an Indian court, and turn it into insights the ecosystem can act on.
6–8 hrs/week · 3 months
Remote (India)
Research
Interviews
Deadline 30 Sep 2026Closes 30 Sep 2026
View
DevLow
VolunteerHow might we make court performance visible to everyone in DRISTI 2.0?Help build open dashboards that make court performance legible (pendency, disposal rates, hearing patterns) on top of public judicial data.
Flexible · ongoing
Remote
Open source
Data
Deadline 31 Dec 2026Closes 31 Dec 2026
View
LegalHigh
Paid · TemporaryHow might we redesign summons and cause lists around DRISTI 2.0?Work with a partner court to redesign one high-friction process (summons, cause lists, or adjournments) from the litigant's point of view.
