Functioning of Delhi High Court and district courts to remain suspended till May 3

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New Delhi, April 15: The functioning of the Delhi High Court and the district courts will continue to remain suspended till May 3 with only urgent matters being heard through videoconferencing, a communication from the High Court said. However, it said the number of benches of the judges, hearing matters through videoconferencing, would be increased.

The communication said the Administrative and General Supervision Committee of Delhi High Court ordered that all matters listed between April 16 and May 2 in the district courts be adjourned and information about this be uploaded on the website, The Hindustan Times reported.

“The District and Sessions judges concerned, as already directed, may permit the judges and other staff officials to work from home, wherever possible. All hearings be done preferably through videoconferencing which would automatically result in decongestion in court complexes,” the communication said.

After receiving several complaints of unavailability of the infrastructure for the video conferencing (VC) of cases, the court also resolved that all judges should be given online training to hear the matters through VC.

“All the district and sessions judges shall ensure that videoconferencing is done through ‘Cisco WebEx’. Online training about the manner of use of said software be given to all the Judicial officers and court staff through a Centralized Computer Committee.

“Such Centralized Computer Committee would, from time to time, seek necessary instructions from IT Committee of this Court on the aspect of VC hearing and would also ensure that there is complete uniformity amongst all districts in this regard,” it added.

The High Court also said that each district and sessions judge (DJ) would be at liberty to take appropriate steps to personally ensure that the mechanism of mentioning of urgent matters in each of the district courts is quick and efficient. It also said that the DJ could depute judicial officers for hearing the matters related to bail and urgent civil/injunction cases, corresponding to the need and requirement of the district court concerned.

Reacting to this, KC Mittal, chairman, Bar Council of Delhi (BCD), said that more benches would bring improvement in the functioning and more cases will be heard.

“In terms of the district courts, we will observe the situation for a couple of days and if there is any problem, then we can again make some changes,” Mittal said.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/functioning-of-delhi-high-court-and-district-courts-to-remain-suspended-till-may-3/story-nyWLWLeK0E1JfIOFtzza2J.html

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