The coronavirus outbreak forced the SC to resort to the virtual court hearings so that the safety of lawyers, litigants as well as media personnel were not jeopardized, but such hearings will not replace or be the substitute for the physical courts, Supreme Court judge, Justice DY Chandrachud, said this on Sunday.
“I want to dissuade people from the very idea that the virtual court hearings are some sort of panacea,” said Justice Chandrachud at a webinar organized by Nyaya Forum of National Academy of Legal Studies & Research, Hyderabad on topic Future of the Virtual Courts & Access to Justice in India.
“They will not be able to replace the physical court hearings. We had to resort to the virtual court hearings due to Covid-19 descended without the warning and we had no other choice. We had to protect those who come to the court –lawyers, litigants, media personnel, paralegals, interns”, he further said.
The SC, which is under the complete shutdown due to the Covid-19 threat, has been hearing only those cases which are extremely urgent since March 23 through video conferencing without the personal presence of the lawyers.
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The top court had issued the circular on 23rd of March suspending the entry of lawyers as well as litigants into court premises & directing that only extremely urgent cases would be taken up for hearing via video conferencing during the lockdown period. The video conferencing is conducted by the court through the Vidyo app that can be downloaded on the mobile phones as well as on desktops.
On the use of technology in courts, justice DY Chandrachud said the technology was an inseparable adjunct to the rule of law & will have to be employed as a critical element in court design. Justice Chandrachud, who is also the chairperson of e-committee at SC, said that the digitization of the courts including the e-filing must be standardized across the country.
The filing of cases in the Supreme Court is set to undergo a radical change with the introduction of the new e-filing module shortly. The module will provide personalized information to every advocate-on-record of the cases which have been filed by them, their cause list of the cases, details of pleadings filed by them & pleadings filed by others in cases in which they appear.
The service will be available round the clock which would mean that the lawyer can file the case at any time in a day as well as on any day irrespective of whether the registry is working or not. “We as judges have the vital role to ensure that the young members of the Bar are trained& we have to do the hand-holding ourselves”, said Justice DY Chandrachud.
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Originally published on Legal Sarcasm
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