A bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud will hear the Supreme Court’s appeal over the request to include access to virtual hearings as a basic right [All India Association of Jurists v. High Court of Uttarakhand & Ors].
Attorney Siddharth R. Gupta brought up the issue on Monday in front of a bench that included Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli.
The CJI-led bench then ordered that the case be heard by a bench under the direction of Justice DY Chandrachud.
The Supreme Court’s e-courts programme is led by Justice Chandrachud.
At least two petitions ask for a virtual hearing to be granted as a matter of right.
The All India Jurists Association, a group representing more than 5,000 lawyers nationwide, and journalist Sparsh Upadhyay of Livelaw have filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to rule that Article 19(1)(a) and (g) of the Constitution guarantee the right to participate in court proceedings via video conference.
The argument made in the petition by attorney Sriram Parakkat claims that under Article 19(1)(a) and (g) of the Indian Constitution, every practitioner has the basic right to use virtual courts and conduct legal proceedings through video conference.
The petitioner has argued that such access cannot be denied or dispensed with on procedural grounds related to a lack of infrastructure or technology or an inconvenience to the courts in managing them.
It’s interesting to note that the petitioner association has also asked the Supreme Court’s E-Committee to be included as a party to the lawsuit.
In a separate petition, the National Federation of Societies for Fast Justice, represented by attorney Mrigank Prabhakar, asked the Supreme Court’s e-committee to issue a warning to the High Court’s not to stop offering video conferencing and virtual court proceedings.
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