Plea in Supreme Court to quash the decision on reverting to physical hearing

Plea in Supreme Court to quash the decision on reverting to physical hearing

100 crores already spent to enable virtual courts

An application has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Madhya Pradesh High Court to revert to physical hearings.

The circular of the High Court (HC) of Madhya Pradesh had stated that it would be open for hearing of the cases through physical mode at Principal Seat in Jabalpur and Benches at Indore and Gwalior from 25 October 2021.

The application filed in the HC stated that the cap of 65 years for extending the benefit of hybrid and virtual hearing in the court "is creating an artificial distinction of the classification," as any counsel below the age of 65 might also require virtual hearing due to various reasons.

The plea contended that the decision to do away with virtual hearings comes after the High Court invited national tenders and purchased around 1,700 paid licenses of Cisco Webex for smooth conduct of virtual and hybrid hearings.

In fact, on 1 October, the High Court had inaugurated the latest software-based application - Webex-Cisco for the working of various courts through Hybrid Mode with a video conferencing facility.

Sanctioned by the Supreme Court's E-Committee, the High Court had already purchased around 1700 authorized licenses for a whopping amount of Rs.10 crores.

In the past year, over Rs.100 crores were invested in upgrading the infrastructure at the Court to enable facilities for video conference/virtual court hearings. The additional infrastructural facilities included LED screens and High Data Speed Landline (HSDL) broadband connections.