No judge shall decline request for video conference hearing; publish VC links in causelists: Supreme Court to High Courts

The Supreme Court on Friday took a stern view of High Courts discontinuing virtual hearing facilities after the COVID-19 pandemic..A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra observed that no judge shall decline requests made by lawyers or litigants for a hearing through video conference and every High Court must make available such facilities.“No judge shall decline a request for video conferencing, every high court must make available video conferencing facilities. Do not tell me lawyers do not want it,” CJI Chandrachud observed.The Court, therefore, directed State governments to provide the necessary infrastructure for it within two months. It added that Wifi be also made available free of charge to advocates and litigants.It further ordered that links available for accessing the hybrid mode of hearings shall be made available in the causelists without prior applications for it. The Court also said the High courts will not impose age requirements for accessing online hearings. .The High Courts were directed to abide by the directions and place a Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) in place within a month. In this regard, the Court requested the Delhi High Court Judge Justice Rajiv Shakdher to prepare an e-SOP with Amici Curiae for circulation among High Courts.The bench was hearing a plea raising grievance against the suspension of virtual/hybrid hearings in High Courts and tribunals across the country..The Court noted that all High Courts have not adopted the e-filing alongside hybrid hearings. “We are aware of internet connectivity issues in northeastern States,” the top court said.The Court further questioned that when Supreme court judges have adapted to the hybrid hearings, why High Court judges were reticent about it.“Technology is no longer a matter of choice and it is as needed as law books. Without technology how will the courts function,” it added. .Directions from top courtThe Court passed the following directions in its order.i) Mr Gaurav Agarwal and Mr K Parmeshwar, counsel as Amici Curiae, are requested to collate the information in the affidavits. They may distribute the work in the HCs between them. They may coordinate with Registrars (IT and General) for necessary information to be placed before this Court.ii) Within two months of this order, no litigant shall be deprived of hearing through hybrid mode. State governments to provide necessary infrastructure within time frame indicated above. Adequate facilities like WiFi be made available free of charge to Advocates and litigants appearing before the HC. iii) Links available for accessing the hybrid mode hearings shall be made available in the causelists without prior applications. No HC shall impose age requirements for accessing online hearings.iv) High Courts shall abide by and place an SoP within 4 weeks to effectuate the purpose of this case. We request Mr Rajiv Shakdher (Delhi HC judge) to prepare an E-SOP with ld Amicii to be circulated to all the HCs in advance for uniform for VC/hybrid hearings.v) All HCs shall comply with these directions towards litigants and members of the Bar. They shall provide a list of VC licenses and infrastructure in place, including the northeastern HCs.."Complete Offender".The top court during the hearing extensively commented on the reluctance being shown by the High Courts in adapting to the hybrid system of hearings and called the Allahabad High Court the “complete offender”.“If the Chief Justice does not take interest nothing happens… There is complete shutdown of hybrid hearings,” said the CJI. Observing that there was a considerable variation in adoption of technology by the High Courts, the apex court said the statistics with regard to the actual number of hearings through hybrid mode indicates that the the performance is abysmal. It added that in most High Courts, the problem is compounded by the absence of an easy to use SoP for accessing the online hearings and the lack of Wifi or Internet facility to the lawyers and litigants on court premises. “Most High Courts do not provide Wifi or internet facility to the bar and litigants on its premises. It is not possible for them to access the internet in court precincts. Links for hybrid hearings are not provided in the causelist and an application for access has to be submitted well in advance, sometimes three days prior to hearing,” it noted..The Court also pulled up the Bombay High Court in this regard.He observed that apart from Justice Gautam Patel of the Bombay High Court, few other High Court judges appeared to be using technology."Why is it so retrograde on technology? ... apart from Justice Patel no one else is using it," the CJI said..The Court ordered the High Courts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir & Ladakh, Tripura and Uttarakhand to file their responses by next Friday. Failing which, it said the Registrar Generals and IT Registrars shall remain personally present.Senior Advocate Nidhesh Gupta, representing the Punjab and Haryana High Court, submitted that hybrid hearings have been started in six courtrooms and tenders have also been invited for upgrading the infrastructure.Gupta also said that the High Court has virtual hearing facility but it does not have the hybrid hearings because of the lack of infrastructure. He added that the technology was being procured. CJI Chandrachud in response said, “you are not one of the grave offenders and tech indifferent High courts... Government of India has sanctioned ₹7,000 crores but nothing is happening, there are many such High Courts.”.The Supreme Court had on September 15 sought responses from all High Courts and various tribunals to the plea, as also the reasons behind such decisions.The CJI had remarked that the top court had long been planning to raise this issue and sought the response of High Courts and tribunals on whether hybrid hearings have been discontinued and the reasons for the same.At least three other petitions are already pending before the apex court seeking declaration of virtual hearing as a fundamental right.They have been filed by All India Jurists Association, National Federation of Societies for Fast Justice and advocate Varun Thakur.Notably, in May this year, the CJI had urged High Courts to continue with virtual hearing, stating that litigants can't be burdened because judges are not tech-savvy.He had implored High Courts to continue using technology enabling hybrid hearings, pointing out that such facilities are not meant for use only during COVID-19 pandemic.