E-COURTS AND VIRTUAL HEARINGS

Panel 1 of Day 1 of the 4th week was titled "E-Courts and Virtual Hearings" and discussed topics such as the rise of e-courts and videoconferencing hearings: experiences, pitfalls and lessons learnt; virtual hearings or physical hearings or a hybrid mix of the two: What's your go-to model?; and can technology have a positive role in reducing pendency? highlighting the advantages of e-trials. The session was moderated by Ila Kapoor, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas with participants including: Dr. Sanjeev Gemawat, Executive Director & Group CS, Dalmia Bharat Group; Samir Hossain, General Manager Legal, Aditya Birla Finance Limited; Rajiv Chandan, General Counsel & Company Secretary, Tata Chemicals Limited; Sidharth Sethi, Partner, J Sagar Associates; Sujeet Jain, Chief Legal Officer, UltraTech Cement; and Abhai Pandey, Partner, LexOrbis. Dr Gemawat said, "Use of digital technology would restore faith in the justice delivery system in view of the inherent benefits of speed and reduced costs. It would help in streamlining the functioning of the courts resulting in reduced workload on the judicial system and hence enhancing the quality of justice." Rajiv Chandan said, "An excellent deliberation on the topic of e-courts & virtual hearings at the Legal Era GENNEXT 2021 Business & Law Congress. The key takeaway from the session was – the hybrid model is the future and the way to go. Thanks Legal Era for organising this event and allowing us to participate in the session and share my views." Sidharth Sethi said, "Hybrid hearings are the way to go. Though they are still in their beta stage, with experience, I am certain that an effective and workable model will be evolved. Procedural hearings in arbitrations can be conducted virtually without the need for physical presence of parties. The same goes for case management hearings in courts. Other stages (including final arguments) may also be considered to be held virtually depending on the size of the matter. That said, I am a strong proponent of the view that hearings for recording of oral evidence should be conducted physically to ensure adequate and proper opportunity to parties. I say so because: (i) A matter which is fact intensive and there are multiple documents filed by both the sides - is extremely difficult to cross- examine the witnesses and to confront them with documents and/or explain the relevance of a question to the Tribunal by reference to a document; (ii) Tribunal may also find it difficult to judge the demeanor of the witnesses during video conferencing; (iii) If Tribunal members are in different locations, this will impede their ability to consult and deliberate while the cross-examination is in progress; (iv) Cross-examination is a process that depends on the verbal and non-verbal cues revealed by the witness. If there is lack of audio-visual clarity, a virtual-hearing does not always allow to promptly and clearly catch such cues; (v) There are also concerns that witnesses are being instructed or tutored. The Seoul Protocol on Video Conferencing in International Arbitrations addresses some of these issues but shortcomings and concerns when it comes to recording of evidence via video conferencing still remain." Sujeet Jain said, "Justice is a constitutional service which government owes to its citizens and justice delayed as we know is justice denied. Pandemic has offered us extraordinary opportunity to digitize all aspects of our justice delivery ecosystem and set a global benchmark in ensuring timely justice. This will not only accelerate our ease of doing business but will also be an enabler for our hon'ble prime minister's vision of India becoming a $5 trillion economy." Abhai Pandey said, "No doubt e-courts and virtual hearings are a remarkable initiative but like all other new initiatives, this system is also facing teething issues. We are hopeful to have more robust systems across the country in the times to come."