Inside the Virtual Court: Gujarat HC records 73.77% case disposal rate in July amid COVID-19 [Read Report]

The Gujarat High Court has released its second Monthly Report documenting the Court's virtual functioning amid the continuing pandemic.

. The report, prepared on the directions of the Chief Justice, contains statistics on the number of matters filed, registered, and disposed of in the month of July.

The report further classifies them by their type and the nature of relief sought.

. Published to inform stakeholders of how the Court has been discharging its judicial functions in the month of July, the Report summarises its tryst with the virtual with brief descriptions of various aspects of the video conferencing process.

. Read the first report on the Court's working between March 24 and June 30:

.Inside the Virtual Court: Gujarat High Court's Report on its functioning during the COVID-19 Lockdown . Notably, the report for July makes reference to the two occasions on which the working of the Court was suspended, the first being from July 8, 2020 to July 12, and later on July 15. These were necessitated by the rise in coronavirus infections among court staff.

. " During the working of the High Court in the lockdown situation, about two dozen cases of Covid-19 infections were detected amongst the officers and staff of the Registry of the High Court. Based on these cases of infections and the analysis by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and other Authorities, the High Court premises was placed under micro containment zone.." the report narrates

.Gujarat HC to remain shut for three days in view of spike in COVID-19 cases in the vicinity, judicial functioning suspended. Over the month, the Court also organised two online awareness session for advocates practising at the High Court. The sessions were organised to instruct advocates about the modalities of using the ZOOM video conferencing application.

. The High Court's Mentioning Platform . A highlight of the previous report had been the launch of an online mentioning platform in June. July's report explains its working in a little more detail.

. The platform allows advocates an opportunity to mention urgent matters on request between 9 AM and 10 AM on working days. These would be heard by two designated " senior judges" on the same day.

. Beginning July 30, each matter is being assigned a serial number to serve as a reference for the matter being mentioned.

Depending on when the request for a mention is made, the matter may be circulated to the appropriate Bench on the same day as its mentioning or even prior, per the report.

. 665 Civil cases and 342 Criminal matters were mentioned in the month of July, the report informs.

. Working of the Court . Around 2,000 civil and 3,000 criminal cases were filed over email , the report states.

The figures are inclusive of interim applications as well. 3,481 of the nearly 4,473 matters filed cases were registered, the Report further informs.

. The report states that huge volume of cases being filed necessitated the creation of three new email IDs for filing. This takes the total number of filing IDs in use at the High Court to 13.

. Among civil cases, a major chunk of the matters comprised of Special Civil Applications (SCAs) preferred by detenus and persons apprehending detention under the State’s preventive detention law, the document reports.

. Interestingly, the entirety of the twenty civil writ petitions registered were public interest litigation pleas.

. Most of the criminal cases filed pertained to bails, the report states. July witnessed 1,190 original bail applications made to the High Court and 33 appeals from unsuccessful bail applications before lower Courts, the statistics depict.

. Among the other criminal appeals was one appeal against an acquittal and 7 protesting conviction. The Report notes that the proportion of criminal matters registered exceeded those filed.

. The report records that a total of 9,408 matters (3,715 Civil and 5,693 Criminal) were listed for hearing, including interim applications.

. As in the previous report, July’s volume specifies the work done by the various Benches. All of the Judges attended Court from their homes. Throughout the month, there were 261 sittings of single judge benches and 52 of Division Benches.

. The High Court’s statistics record the disposal of 3,128 cases during the month of July, out of which 1,799 were criminal matters. With 3,128 cases disposed in July, the case clearance rate for the month stands at 73.77% , it is stated.

. 605 of the cases disposed were filed/registered prior to the pandemic lockdown, it is added.

. Moreover, a total of 50 Judgments and 7,364 Orders were passed by the Court over the month.

. These figures have been highlighted as indicative of the Court’s disposal of pre-lockdown matters as well.

. “These figures very well reflect the fact that during the online VC mode of functioning of the High Court, the matters already instituted before lockdown situation are also taken care of, heard and decided.” Gujarat High Court Report . Read the Report here:

Inside the Virtual Court: Gujarat HC records 73.77% case disposal rate in July amid COVID-19 [Read Report]

Lydia Suzanne Thomas

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