Team  SoOLEGAL

Covid-19 effects: Virtual Court, electronic filings,  paperless courts

Team SoOLEGAL 17 Mar 2020 3:29pm

Covid-19 effects: Virtual Court, electronic filings,  paperless courts

NEW DELHI: On Sunday evening i.e. 15th March 2020, an urgent meeting was called by Chief Justice SA Bobde with Justices Arun Mishra, UU Lalit, DY Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, bar leaders of the Supreme Court Advocates On-Association (SCAORA) and prominent doctors, to discuss the situation and the steps that can be taken to prevent the wide spread of the deadly disease and to consider the possibility of virtual courts was evaluated.

According to SCAORA's press release, CJI Bobde ruled out the idea of fully shutting down the apex court and claimed that only selective shutdown might be feasible at the moment, as virtual courts are on the verge of starting. If introduced successfully, this will be a significant development that would eventually bring a higher level of legal transcriptions in Indian courts.

It was agreed during the meeting that members of the bar would be prepared to accept, promote and support e-filing and video conferencing, which is expected to begin shortly.

Justice DY Chandrachud, who is the chairman of the e-committee, has further assured that communication between 'people to people' will be minimized by incorporating court proceedings via video conferencing and separate counsel rooms will be made available for each party.

Any lawyer has to only download a simple application and activate court proceedings vide video conference, that can be conducted from his office. Once proceedings commence there would be smart televisions in both the press lounge for the convenience of journalists,” he further added.

Justice Chandrachud also promised that court hearings as well as filing procedures would soon go digital and paperless, and that e-filings could be made at any time of day for court matters.

Medical experts, Dr. Randeep Guleria, from AIIMS, New Delhi and Dr. Balaram Bhargave, from ICMR and other experts from institutions such as Fortis, Apollo and Medanta also attended the meeting.

It was also advised that if a person has actually travelled overseas to any of the notified areas, they would not be allowed to enter the premises of the Court.

Besides this the experts gave the following advisories:

  • People with symptoms are to be asked to exercise self-restraint and not enter the Court;

  • Courts have been advised to publish awareness of respiratory etiquette using posters in their premises and also publicise the same through social media.

  • Deploy and install thermal scans at entry levels of Courts

  • Ensure availability of sanitiser in all Court Rooms, corridors, toilets etc.

  • Appreciate and maintain minimum distance between individuals and guard against overcrowding

  • Promote hand wash with liquid soap, install hand driers and stop usage of paper napkins

The Judges have ensured that no adverse directions will be issued and adjournments will be given leniently.

Senior advocate Jamshed Mistry has been actively seeking a detailed legal transcriptions of court cases and video streaming of court cases in India. He had filed a Supreme Court interference petition with businessman Amrish Kilachand seeking permission from the supreme court to make transcription services compulsory for all courtrooms in India, similar to other countries such as Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and others.

The Board is expected to hold another meeting on 18th March 2020 (Wednesday).



Tagged: Covid-19   Virtual Court   paperless courts   Chief Justice SA Bobde   Justices Arun Mishra   Supreme Court   Justice DY Chandrachud  
Did you find this write up useful? YES 0 NO 0
×

C2RMTo Know More

Something Awesome Is In The Work

0

DAYS

0

HOURS

0

MINUTES

0

SECONDS

Sign-up and we will notify you of our launch.
We’ll also give some discount for your effort :)

* We won’t use your email for spam, just to notify you of our launch.
×

SAARTHTo Know More

Launching Soon : SAARTH, your complete client, case, practise & document management SAAS application with direct client chat feature.

If you want to know more give us a Call at :+91 98109 29455 or Mail info@soolegal.com