Delhi High Court may allow virtual hearing requests unless used as excuse for adjournment; place from where lawyer connects to VC immaterial: SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with the March 9 order of the Delhi High Court which had mandated physical hearings from March 15 in Delhi courts. .The top court made it clear that the manner of opening of courts or continuing with virtual courts is something that will have to be handled at the level of Delhi High Court administration, and that it would not issue directions based on the perceptions of different lawyers.."We must say at the inception itself that aspects of the manner of opening of the courts, the extent of physical hearing, the opportunity of virtual hearing are all matters which need to be handled at the level of Delhi High Court administration. We would not like to substitute those directions on the perceptions of different counsels who are before us canvassing different points of views," the Court made it clear. .A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Subhash Reddy, however, said that it expects courts to show accommodation when a person requests for virtual hearing unless the same is sought to be used as an excuse to seek adjournment.Importantly, the Court also clarified that the place from which a lawyer connects is immaterial. .Place from where a lawyer connects to virtual hearing is immaterial.Supreme Court .In this regard, the apex court said that the order of the Delhi High Court to the extent it states that virtual hearing will be allowed only in "exceptional circumstances" might create unnecessary problems and it would be advisable for the High Court to facilitate virtual hearing whenever sought. ."We would expect the Judges to show accommodation wherever a person wants a virtual hearing provided he connects it and that is not used as an excuse for adjournment. The place from where he connects is immaterial. The use of the phraseology “exceptional cases” thus, seems to create an unnecessary problem and it may be appropriate for the High Court to facilitate virtual hearing whenever so sought," the order passed by the Supreme Court clarified. .The Delhi High Court had ordered that from March 15, virtual hearings would be the exception and not the norm, ordering that whenever a request for a hybrid/video conferencing hearing is made, the party concerned should not only state the exceptional circumstance, but also indicate his/her geographic location..Virtual hearings not the norm from March 15, disclose geographic location when requesting for virtual hearing: Delhi High Court .The said order came to be challenged before the Supreme Court. The petitioners prayed that physical hearings in the High Court and subordinate courts should be completely deferred at least till the first phase of the vaccination process of all lawyers is completed.The apex court noted that issues raised during the hearing will have to be fine-tuned by the administrative side of the Delhi High Court..Some of the issues pointed out before the Court were crowding of courts and requests for virtual access to litigants, among others.."We are of the view that all these aspects will require fine-tuning on the administrative side and there will be experience gained and problems faced as things go on," the order noted. .The Court further expressed that it has "no doubt that judges will make accommodations to make hybrid hearings successful till physical hearing starts". .Having appeared before the Delhi High Court in the last two days, advocate Nancy Roy submitted,"There is no facility for physical distancing in Delhi High Court today even though half list is taken up...Fully air-conditioned with no ventilation. It's dangerous.".However, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President and Senior Advocate Vikas Singh stated that now the choice was between "death by starvation" and "death by COVID.".Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi strongly argued against the Delhi High Court order on the aspect of insisting on geographical location of counsel. ."These kind of arguments that you are in Delhi or your are somewhere else...What kind of attitude is this? Today we don't have a second shot. After 45 days, we have a second shot then 15 days. Summer vacations are coming. We can have physical hearing then," said Rohatgi. .The petition will be heard again next Tuesday along with a plea by SCBA challenging the hybrid mode adopted by Supreme Court to hear cases. .On March 9, the Delhi High Court Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli said,"While making the requests, parties should clearly set out the exceptional circumstance/case and also indicate their geographic location from where they would be joining (the video conferencing hearing). Mere absence of the counsel or party within the NCT of Delhi may not be a sufficient ground for making a request for VC hearing.".It had also ordered that allowing or declining virtual hearing would be the discretion of the judge(s) concerned and no personal hearing in this regard would be entertained."As far as what would constitute an exceptional circumstance, would have to be left to discretion of the judge(s) before whom request is made. However, to put to rest any uncertainty, it would be appropriate that such a request is made at least one working day in advance," the High Court order stated. The High Court had, nonetheless added that insofar as young mothers are concerned, their request for virtual hearing for the reason that they cannot leave their homes would be "examined compassionately" by the concerned judge(s).