[COVID] Develop robust virtual hearing facilities in trial, district courts: Justice AS Oka

Recently elevated Supreme Court judge, Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka emphasied that the legal community including the judiciary must take a pledge to ensure that judicial work continues unhindered, COVID-19 notwithstanding. .Justice Oka also highlighted the importance of developing a robust virtual hearing system for district and lower courts so that they can conduct hearings seamlessly in case of COVID or other similar calamities. “We should all pledge that despite ’n’ number of (COVID) waves, judicial work does not stop....If there is a third way or any other calamity, then judicial work should not be not limited to higher courts only,” he said.Justice Oka was speaking at a function organised by Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa on Sunday to felicitate him on his elevation to the Supreme Court.The event was attended by Supreme Court judge Justice BR Gavai, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni and Senior Advocate Darius Khambata among others.In his speech, Justice Oka highlighted a few issues which he opined deserves consideration..Use of technology for court hearingJustice Oka made it clear at the outset that video conference hearings are not a substitute for physical hearings but at the same time emphasised that use of technology as a norm for functioning of courts cannot be denied.“All courts started functioning through video conference hearings during the COVID. Even though initially there was a backlash from Senior Advocates, many of them got so acclimatised to virtual hearings that they never came to courts physically till I was in Karnataka,” Justice Oka said..Justice Oka claimed that he had received many complaints that trial in lower courts could not be conducted through virtual hearings during the COVID period. The pandemic has led to huge pendency of cases at the district-level and lower courts of the country, because witnesses could not be brought to courts and examination of such witnesses could not be conducted.Justice Oka, therefore, strongly advocated developing a strong system of physical court with virtual hearing facility which he said should be done irrespective of whether or not a third wave of COVID hits.Considering there are experts in the field of information technology in every city, Justice Oka said that all High Courts in the country should make an endeavour to prepare themselves in a way, that “if there is a third way or any other calamity then judicial work is not limited to the higher courts only”.“We have to accept that using technology is now a must,” he said..Justice Oka further opined that one of the hindrances cited as regards virtual hearings in lower courts is that trial courts do not have provision of internet and there is no system to conduct video conference hearings.He suggested that State Bar Councils should conduct a survey to find out how many lawyers use internet and have smart phones.He assured that the Council would be surprised to know that over 80% of the lawyers use internet and hence “such excuses” could no more be given..On infrastructure of courtsJustice Oka confessed that judicial infrastructure is a subject close to his heart. Although it had improved since the time he had started practicing, he highlighted that the “judicial infrastructure in Karnataka is far better than the infrastructure in Maharashtra”.“It is said that Maharashtra has produced a lot of judicial talent, but when it comes to infrastructure, our State lags behind. There are various reasons and I am not blaming anyone,” he added..Karnataka court complexes, Justice Oka said, are better as they have large open spaces around the court campus.He also expressed how impressed he was with a taluka-level court complex in Hubli, which used technology to manage the entire building.“There is court complex in Hubli which is a state of the art building for the simple reason that it uses technology really well. There is a computer at the basement of the court from where they manage the entire building.”.Another aspect in the court complexes that grabbed his attention was the system of having a separate building for bar associations. For instance, the City Civil Court at Bangalore had a 5-storey building only for a Bar Association which included a hall, separate chambers for the office bearers and even two restaurants.While such needs may come across as luxuriant, he said that he firmly believed that good infrastructure will lead to better quality of work.“Some persons may say it is pure luxury, and just because there is good infrastructure does not mean there will be a better quality of justice. But it will create some strong legal principles and perspectives which will be useful in the long term," Justice Oka underscored. .On Legal Education in State of MaharashtraJustice Oka also touched upon how the legal education in Maharashtra was different for different universities and each law school had a different method of pedagogy. He suggested that Maharashtra government could adopt something similar to the model of the Karnataka State Law University which was constituted after an Act of the same name was passed in 2009.160 law schools affiliated to it have uniform legal education, he pointed out while adding that the teachers and staff responsible for the syllabus and execution were all persons from the legal field. .[Watch the entire event]