Parliamentary committee suggests “Virtual Court proceedings continue beyond Covid pandemic”
New Delhi:
The Standing Parliamentary Committee on Law and Justice, in its report submitted today, recommended maintaining virtual courts for identified categories of cases, even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The panel chaired by top BJP leader Bhupender Yadav submitted its report to Rajya Sabha’s chairman, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu.
Claiming that a tribunal is more a service than a place, the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice said in its report that it is time for the courtroom, seen as the “last bastion of obsolete work practices”, opens its doors to the latest technologies.
Stressing that “digital justice” is cheaper and faster in addition to tackling local and economic handicaps, the panel strongly advocated “the continuation of virtual courts even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic”.
“Virtual Court proceedings continue beyond the duration of the pandemic for categories of cases identified with the consent of all parties,” the committee recommended.
He also suggested that virtual proceedings could be extended permanently to various appellate courts such as TDSAT, IPAB, NCLAT, etc. located across the country, which do not require personal appearances from parties / lawyers.
Virtual courts speed up processes and procedures and are an improvement over traditional courts as they are more affordable, more citizen-friendly and provide better access to justice, the panel said in the report.
This is the first report presented by a parliamentary group on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After reviewing various provisions, references and glossaries regarding the definition of court, the Committee considered that the court is more of a service than a place, thus supporting the virtual court proceedings that have been used since the lockdown induced by the COVID pandemic. 19 in March. , 2020.
The Committee held a series of meetings with the secretaries of the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, the Secretary General of the Supreme Court and representatives of the Bar of India and others on issues related to the functioning of virtual courts. .
Taking note of the reservations expressed by bars about virtual court proceedings, the panel concluded that virtual courts may have shortcomings but are an improvement over the existing system and deserve to be adopted.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
