Supreme Court allows High Courts to frame own rules for virtual hearings, says media access "should only be for output and not input"

Tweaking a part of the guidelines issued on virtual hearings during COVID-19, the Supreme Court today stated that High Courts may follow their own rules on video conferencing..The Bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices DY Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao stated that the rules framed by a High Court for virtual hearings will cover appellate proceedings as well as trial matters..Today, Justice Chandrachud revealed that 11 High Courts have already framed their own rules for virtual hearings based on the model rules formulated by the Supreme Court e-Committee.CJI Bobde added that the courts who are yet to frame rules will do so, and in the interim, they will follow rules framed by the Chief Justice of that High Court..The Court had taken suo motu cognizance of a letter written by Senior Advocate and former Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Vikas Singh, who has suggested measures for use of technology for conducting hearings in courts..In his intervention application, Singh made the following suggestions for easy access to hearings in the Supreme Court:"There should be a cubicle area in the annexe building where lawyers can attend virtual hearings. Transfer pleas and bail pleas can be heard by only VC. Media needs to be given separate kiosk to cover any proceeding so that corridors are not flooded by them and they can be at ease.".CJI Bobde responded that "media should only have access to output not the input.".Attorney General KK Venugopal then stated that though video conference hearings were largely successful, technical glitches were marring the process. Thus, he sought to know from the Court if the e-Committee could advise on which was the best platform for such proceedings..Justice Chandrachud, who is Chairman of the e-Committee, stated that the Court has issued tenders so that a common platform can be used for all Supreme Court proceedings. However, for the High Courts and the trial courts, the situation was a little different. He said,"For High Courts and District Courts, we will have a national tender so that a common virtual hearing platform can be there. Right now, every High Court is either on Zoom, or Cisco or Vidyo.".He further stated that the Court had appointed a committee of four High Court judges who formulated rules for video conferencing and circulated the same to all High Courts. 11 High Courts have adopted these rules, and the rest are yet to follow suit.CJI Bobde then said,."We propose to allow the High Courts to frame their own rules for video conferencing for themselves and trial courts...equipment or WiFi differs from High Court to High Court. There is difference in degree of e-literacy among advocates too."CJI SA Bobde.The Chief Justice has also asked the Centre whether it can give fibre optic network access to the judiciary so that virtual hearings can be conducted at ease.Since such networks were not laid in the North-Eastern region, satellites should be deployed there, so that video conferencing can be carried on at ease, the CJI suggested..The AG then requested that a meeting be convened between the Union Law Ministry and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to discuss the fiber optic network feasibility. CJI Bobde replied,"Please arrange the meeting and we will only hear you. Justice Chandrachud is in touch with NIC. But you have to make a binding statement before us.".Justice Chandrachud mentioned that one of the primary concerns before the e-Committee was to establish e-Seva Kendras in all 3,350 court complexes across the country. He said that a certain degree of financial help would be needed from the Union to establish such installments..The Court further observed that a committee of Supreme Court judges, members from the NIC, and the Public Works Department would look into the issues raised by Senior Advocate Singh in his intervention application to ensure that physical hearing of cases can be carried on seamlessly along with virtual hearings..Singh suggested that separate cubicles could be set up for lawyers in the Supreme Court premises, where they could attend virtual hearings when not appearing physically. His IA states,"The round annexe building in front of Court No. 12 should be vacated by the Registry completely and a major portion of it should be converted into cubicles with Computer terminals affixed having wired LAN connectivity to the chamber of Hon’ble Judges who would be sitting for video conferencing. This will enable the practicing lawyers of the Supreme Court to use the Video Conferencing hearing even while attending to other matters listed in other courts which are not permitted through the Video Conferencing mode.".All the contentions raised by Singh will now be dealt by the committee to be formed by the Supreme Court on the administrative side..On April 6, observing that “technology is here to stay”, the Supreme Court had passed directions by exercising its plenary power under Article 142 of the Constitution. It said that all measures taken by the courts to reduce physical presence of stakeholders within their premises “will be lawful.".[Functioning of Courts via Video-Conference] High Courts to use own modalities for hearings during lockdown, "Technology here to stay", SC