Directions by Supreme Court – Conduction of hearings through video conferencing/hybrid mode – Considerable variation between High Courts in the level of adoption of technology – Position of the tribunals under various ministries of the Union Government:
Held: No High Court shall deny access to video conferencing facilities or hearing through the hybrid mode to any member of the Bar or litigant desirous of availing of such a facility – All State Governments shall provide necessary funds to the High Courts to put into place the facilities requisite for that purpose within the time frame as indicated – High Courts shall ensure that adequate internet facilities, including Wi-Fi facilities, with sufficient bandwidth are made available free of charge to all advocates and litigants appearing before the High Courts within the precincts of the High Court complex – The links available for accessing video conferencing/hybrid hearings shall be made available in the daily cause-list of each court and there shall be no requirement of making prior applications – No High Court shall impose an age requirement or any other arbitrary criteria for availing of virtual/hybrid hearings – All the High Courts shall put into place an SOP within a period of four weeks for availing of access to hybrid/video conference hearings, directions issued for its effectuation – High Courts shall place on the record the details as directed – Union Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology to coordinate with the Department of Justice to ensure that adequate bandwidth and internet connectivity is provided to all the courts in the North-East and in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir to facilitate access to online hearings – High Courts shall ensure that adequate training facilities are made available to the members of the Bar and Bench – Union of India shall ensure that on or before 15.11.2023, all tribunals are provided with requisite infrastructure for hybrid hearings – All Tribunals shall ensure the commencement of hybrid hearings no later than the said date – Directions governing the High Courts shall also apply to the Tribunals functioning under all the Ministries of the Union Government including CESTAT, ITAT, NCLAT, NCLT, AFT, NCDRC, NGT, SAT, CAT, DRATs and DRTs – Additional Solicitor General shall immediately contact the Chairperson of the APTEL and take necessary steps on behalf of the Union of India to ensure that video conferencing/hybrid facilities are made available at APTEL within a period of one month from the date of this order. [Paras 14, 15]
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As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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