HC ready to hear matters through video conferencing from today

Staff Reporter :

Recording of the VC Court proceeding and hearing is strictly prohibited

Following the Supreme Court directives to maintain social distancing and hear the matter through video conferencing facility, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court has also made arrangements to hear the matters through video-conferencing from April 8. The facility of arguing the matters through video-conferencing was initially provided at principal bench at Mumbai, but with rapid spread of Covid-19, the Apex Court asked all courts to put in place facility of video-conferencing to hear the most urgent matters. Accordingly, the facility has been provided at Nagpur and Aurangabad and also at district courts.

Though court rooms of Nagpur bench are quite spacious and social distancing norms can be easily followed, but the technical arrangements have been made to argue the matters through video-conferencing facility by lawyers. On April 8, Justice Atul Chandurkar will hear the civil matters while Justice V M Deshpande will hear the criminal matters. Justice Chandurkar is also scheduled to pronounce two judgements.

This is for the first time, the High Court will hear the cases via video conferencing. The High Court is also slated to hear the suo-motu PIL regarding public health care institution and measures adopted to deal with corona pandemic. Since the entry inside the High Court premises is restricted and only very urgent matters are argued, the social distancing mandate can be easily followed. The Supreme Court in its order has already granted liberty to High Courts to finalise modalities depending upon the situation and infrastructural facilities while asking all courts to respond to the call of social distancing and ensure that court premises do not contribute to the spread of virus. This is not a matter of discretion but of duty, the Apex Court had reminded everyone.

According to notification issue by HC registry, the advocates will have install “Vidyo” software on their computers or smartphones to join the Video Conference Room. The link will automatically download software for installation on their computer. For smartphones, the Vidyo App can be downloaded from Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Once the “Vidyo” software is downloaded, the Advocates concerned shall click on the link provided by the Registry and then click on “Join Conference.”

The Advocates concerned shall enter their display name before joining the Video Conference Room and enter the PIN shared with them to connect. Recording of the VC Court proceeding and hearing is strictly prohibited. Two VC units in District Court IN Nyay Mandir premises one Video-Conferencing unit has been set up in Court hall of ACJM, 1st Floor, Room No. 116 and another is setup in the chamber of ACJM Court, purely for the purpose for remand only. Second setup is for another extreme urgent matters and remand of special courts is made in court hall No. 515 and its chamber. A notification issued by Principal District Judge S G Mehare, all the Judicial officers on urgent matters hearing and remand duties shall attend work exclusively on VC from the chambers and parties and advocates shall attend the matters from the respective court hall through V.C. only.