Virtual Court hearing saves judicial time – Should be made a permanent feature.

 

The Indian courts permitted the presentation of testimonial evidence by electronic means and telepresence of the accused much before the pandemic situation. The National Green Tribunal started using the video conferencing facility for hearing cases throughout India in 2018. At that time the Southern Zonal bench was not sitting. But lawyers can go to Court hall in Chennai and argue before the Southern Bench sitting at Delhi through the video conferencing facility arranged at the Court hall.

But the Pandemic situation of 2020 made most of the Courts in India function through video conferencing. The lawyers were able to make use of their computers, laptops, iPad, and mobile phones to appear before the High Court and Supreme Court. For the last two years from Supreme Court to all mofussil courts are using the video conferencing method to hear the arguments of the parties.

The experience gathered during the last two years will show it has become more comfortable to the lawyers. Substantial travelling time to reach the court, besides the travelling expenses is saved. A lawyer in Kerala will be losing two days to attend ten minutes hearing in Supreme Court in Delhi. Besides, he will be forced to seek adjournment on the High Court on the ground of being out of the station. Now with the help of computers, he can travel from one court to another with the click of the mouse. There is more clarity in video hearings of the cases than in the physical court. Arguments can be methodically arranged.  In most cases that can be finished in less than ten minutes, the video conferencing method was found to be more useful. Now e-filing has been found in many the courts making it possible for the lawyers to submit documents through the internet.

Initially, the courts were using video conferencing software like Zoom, Google Meet, and Webex. But now the software especially for courts has been developed making it more comfortable for the lawyers to argue without any outside interference. There seems to be an increase in the performance of the court through this video conferencing mode. Many High Courts have framed special rules/guidelines for e-filing and e-video conferencing. 

But the only difficulty for the lawyers is that they could not sit in verandah or canteen while waiting for their cases while gossiping.

Virtual court saves substantial judicial time. Through video conferencing, serious discussions can be carried out and decisions can arrive at quickly. This will enable speedy justice for the people. Even if the pandemic situation goes, the present system of virtual hearing can continue and if any special situation arises the physical sittings can be carried out on any specific day.

 

                                                                                                  P.B.SAHASRANAMAN

                                                                                                                        sahasram@gmail.com