Amid the ongoing lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, J&K High Court and district courts are taking up exceptionally urgent matters for hearing through virtual mode.
After imposition of lockdown due to COVID-19, access to allthe courts of UTs of J&K and Ladakh including that of the High Court wasclosed and it was decided to hear exceptionally urgent cases only through videoconferencing and calls.
To carry out the proceedings via video conferencing/calls,judges are hearing urgent cases from their respective residences/offices andlawyers are advancing arguments in such listed matters from their respectivehomes or offices.
The HC has so far heard 127 cases of exceptionally urgentnature through virtual mode while as district courts of Jammu and Kashmir andLadakh have heard 4,344 matters.
The protocol governing the hearing of cases through virtualmode has already been issued by the High Court.
As per the directions issued by Chief Justice, the RegistrarJudicial concerned of the wing in coordination with e-court wing of the HighCourt, after seeking necessary orders, made necessary arrangements for hearingof exceptionally urgent cases from the residence(s) of the judges throughvirtual mode.
In majority of the cases, High Court is conducting hearingthrough “Vidyo” app which is easily available for download on mobile phones aswell as desktop.
Vidyo app is recommended by e-committee of Supreme Court asa solution for the courts and is hosted on NIC servers.
“Such is the extent of adaptability of the InformationTechnology tools by the High Court as well as lawyers of J&K that on someoccasions, in a single case, more than 30 lawyers appear before the courtthrough video conferencing/calls,” said a statement.
It said helpline numbers for redressal of complaintsregarding video conferencing related issues in High Court as well as districtcourts have also been issued and hosted on the official website of the HighCourt as well as on websites of all the district courts. In order to ensureeasy access of litigants, lawyers and general public to information relating toa case, a separate and dedicated space is earmarked on the official website ofthe High Court for hosting orders and judgments passed by different benches ofthe High Court.
In a first in the country, during the COVID19 lockdown, theHigh Court has taken the initiative of giving advance dates to the cases so asto streamline further listing of the cases as well as keeping lawyers andlitigants informed about the progress of their respective cases.