[Virtual Hearings] Gone are the days of muting lawyers; Judges now huddle into breakout sessions

Virtual hearings adopted by Indian courts after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic has led to marked changes in the court system and judiciary..It has initiated a drive towards use of technology by the Bar and the Bench and has also led to greater access to justice as far as geographical barriers are concerned.However, it has also come with its share of hiccups and roadblocks including poor internet connectivity, lack of technical know how among the lawyers and judges etc.One difficulty faced by judges is how it inhibited them from consulting with each other when sitting in Benches of two or more, something which they never faced when when hearing cases physically since they could speak with each other discreetly.Just yesterday, a Bombay High Court Bench of Justices SS Shinde and NR Borkar had raised this very concern - about judges not being able to consult with each other during virtual hearing without lawyers and litigants overhearing the conversation."Fakta two judges na kasa bolta yeil VC madhe [how can two judges speak during VC (without others hearing)]? There has to be a system. We should sit in courtroom only," Justice Shinde had said..To remedy this situation, the Supreme Court e-committee headed by Justice DY Chandrachud has framed a policy for judges to acquaint themselves with the concept of "breakout rooms". Breakout rooms are sessions that are split from the main Zoom or Cisco webex meeting. It allows the participants to meet in smaller groups, completely isolated in terms of audio and video from the main session..The Supreme Court judges have started using break out rooms this year when the top court switched to complete virtual hearing after the third wave of COVID-19 hit.It came as a surprise to lawyers, litigants and journalists when the judges excused themselves and logged into a breakout session. For instance, if it was any other physical hearing day, a child custody battle would have usually ended up with the child and the parents walking up to the chambers of the judge concerned for an in chamber discussion after proceedings wrapped up.But times have changed. On January 27, when a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana was hearing such a case, the three judges on the Bench, the CJI and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli entered a breakout room with the child over Cisco WebEx platform. Soon thereafter, the judges rejoined the virtual proceedings and passed an order..Justices Chandrachud and Sanjiv Khanna have also been taking frequent recourse to quick discussions in the breakout room before joining main proceedings again. For instance, when the Court was hearing an application filed in a matter relating to permanent commission for women in the armed forces, Justice Chandrachud asked the counsel to stop for a while before proceeding to have discussions on breakout rooms. Some of the other judges who are now using this feature are Justices AM Khanwilkar, L Nageswara Rao and S Abdul Nazeer. .Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra who has appeared in many cases where the judges have entered breakout sessions welcome this feature."It is the need of the hour and enables judges to discuss among themselves," he told Bar & Bench."I actually didn’t understand what was happening. But I think it is a good way. It actually allows the judges to deliberate better. Plus it is one more step forward in the virtual hearing space," said lawyer Amit A Pai.Senior Advocate Vikas Singh who is the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, had a different take. "There is more consultation between judges during virtual hearings as by not sitting together they discuss more amongst themselves unlike in physical courts where they passed orders without even waiting for the other judge to react," he opined..In case of Delhi High Court, judges before adopting breakout sessions, often used to call parties to their chambers at 4 pm especially in matrimonial matters. There have also been times when a Bench would ask everyone except the concerned parties and their lawyers to leave the meeting during the hearing of sensitive criminal matters and Habeas Corpus petitions. If that did not work, they would tell the court master to remove the others. However, with the judges resorting to quick breakout sessions, these instances are now a thing of the past..However, some courts are yet to adopt breakout sessions as was evident from the Bombay High Court hearing yesterday..One of the officers associated with the e-committee project told Bar & Bench that there is an option for "Judges Login" on the e-committee website and judges will soon get a detailed action plan as to how the breakout session can be activated. Alternatively, the technical staff helping the judges with the sessions would be trained with the new modification so that the judges can confer with each other without disrupting an ongoing proceeding.