HC asks State Tribunal to start online filing and Hearing of Cases

In light of the pandemic situation, the High Court of Bombay has directed the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) to commence online filing & virtual hearing of cases & provide a report on measures to ameliorate grievances of applicants by Tuesday, Nov 3. The directions were prompted after an advocate approached the High Court & complained that MAT wasn't functioning even though other tribunals had commenced virtual hearings.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta & Justice Girish Kulkarni, while hearing the petition lea filed by Lawyer Yogesh Prakash Morbale in Oct, was informed by Lawyers Vinod Sangvikar & Yashodeep Deshmukh that since the lockdown had been announced, MAT had stopped functioning, & its official website was not updated regularly. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lawyers sought directions to MAT to commence online filings & hearings on an immediate basis & to develop & update the official website to make it user friendly.

While making submissions on behalf of Morbale, Sangvikar & Deshmukh had submitted that despite the unprecedented Covid-19 situation & subsequent restrictions, most courts, tribunals & other adjudicating authorities had started functioning on virtual platforms. However, MAT had not started video-conference hearings & online filing of pleas.

The petitioner also referred to High Court’s decision of July, wherein it had directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to hear appeals filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act through a virtual platform in each ward. Morbale’s plea further said that as he was in Kolhapur district, he wasn't in a position to come personally to file matters before MAT considering the risk due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The petitioner’s Lawyers said that it is difficult for an advocate like the petitioner to continue his or her practice due to lack of online access. The plea further said that the situation had arisen due to the apathy/inaction on the part of the administration of MAT in making available infrastructure/facilities for e-filing & video-conference hearings.

After hearing the submissions & in the absence of a MAT representative, the bench said in the order, “In the meanwhile, the registrar of MAT shall look into the grievances expressed by the petitioner in this writ petition & submit a report before this Court, suggesting measures to ameliorate such grievance.” The petition will next be heard on Nov 3. 

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