India News | Bombay HC to Have Combination of Virtual, Physical Hearings
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Bombay High Court on Thursday announced that it will again start hearing cases through virtual mode from December 14, in addition to the physical hearings that began earlier this month.
Mumbai, Dec 10 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Thursday announced that it will again start hearing cases through virtual mode from December 14, in addition to the physical hearings that began earlier this month.
The announcement comes 10 days after most courts at the principal bench of the high court in the city stopped virtual hearings and announced resumption of physical hearings on an "experimental basis" amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
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As per a notice published on the high court's website on Thursday, several benches, including the bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta, will conduct virtual hearings of cases through video-conference at least twice a week between December 14, 2020 and January 10, 2021.
The virtual hearings will be in addition to the already scheduled physical hearings in the high court.
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The notice did not specify any reason for the resumption of virtual hearings.
However, several senior lawyers from the high court had written to CJ Datta earlier this month, urging him to not resume physical hearings at least till the coronavirus vaccine was made available to the general public.
A bench led by Justice S S Shinde said during an unrelated hearing on Thursday that the court had decided to resume a hybrid system of hearing again since lawyers were arguing cases before the Bombay High Court "from across the country" since the pandemic.
From December 1, most benches of the Bombay HC had begun physical hearings.
The lawyers appearing physically are required to wear gowns and masks and everyone in court is required to maintain social distancing.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)