Jitsi not user-friendly, shift Madhya Pradesh High Court hearings to Zoom/ Webex: MP Bar Council Chairman writes to Justice DY Chandrachud

The Madhya Pradesh State Bar Council chairperson, Dr. Vijay Choudhary has written to Supreme Court e-committee chairperson, Justice DY Chandrachud calling for the introduction of a more efficient and user-friendly virtual hearing platform like Webex Cisco or Zoom to host virtual hearings conducted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court..The letter highlighted grave concerns being faced by an overwhelming majority of the advocates practicing before the Madhya Pradesh High Court due to the video conference hearings being conducted using the ‘Jitsi platform’..According to Choudhary, the platform is neither user friendly nor convenient for lawyers and litigants..“When 25 or 30 lawyers appear in batch matters, the Court for the majority of the time is not able to comprehend the submissions of the counsel. For the last two days, the Court hearing COVID-19 matters had to be suspended during the hearing to enable technical staff to put things in order when audio-video quality dipped, making communication between the Bench and the Bar almost impossible,” the letter dated May 24 elaborated..Choudhary has highlighted numerous problems with the ‘Jitsi platform’ being used by all three benches of the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur, Gwalior and Indore. The app suffers from various technical deficiencies including, but not limited to, inaudibility, echoing sounds and an overall poor quality of audio and video, he said..In fact, these problems became so magnified that many sitting judges have shifted to other platforms at their own costs and expenses because they could not withstand the day-to-day glitches faced during hearings via Jisti, it is stated..In spite of this, the State Government had not offered any respite or acknowledgement of these concerns of the court, the letter said..Continuing with Jisti amounts to trivialising the dispensation of justice and also contravenes the provisions of Article 19 read with Article 21 of the Indian constitution along with Directive Principles under part IV of the constitution, the Bar Council Chairman added..In Swapnil Tripathi v. Supreme Court of India, the top court emphasized that accessibility to the dispensation of justice to an ordinary litigant or every citizen of the society is necessary and must be provided as part of the Constitutional guarantees under Articles 19(1)(a) and 21, it was noted further..Hence, there is an urgent need for the apex court to strengthen virtual proceedings before the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Choudhary said. As the Chairperson of the Supreme Court E-Committee, Justice Chandrachud has been urged to look into the matter and push for appropriate steps. .There is absolutely no impediment for the Madhya Pradesh High Court to switch to Webex Cisco or Zoom platforms, he added.