This State High Court first to hold hearing via Video conferencing

The Patna HC, which has been at the forefront of initiating precautionary measures to contain the Coronavirus threat, on Thursday created a history of sorts by conducting a hearing via video-conferencing.

Advocate general Lalit Kishore, who was present at the hearing, called it a red-letter day for the Patna HC. “This is for the first time that a hearing via video-conferencing took place at any HC in the country. This facility would be expanded later to other courts too in the state. The Chief Justice’s efforts in making this happen must be praised,” Kishore said.

The novel hearing was conducted at the court of Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh, who sat in a separate room, while the lawyers appearing in the cases were present in the courtroom where a large TV was installed.

The High Court had already started functioning with an alternate roster for all judges for taking up hearing of only bail matters & urgent cases as a precautionary measure to avoid large gathering of advocates & litigants.

Senior advocate Yogesh Chandra Verma, who argued in the first four cases before Justice Singh’s bench, said it is for the first time that such a system was adopted for conducting hearing across any HC in the country.

“It became possible due to the efforts of the Chief Justice Sanjay Karol. The situation arising out of the coronavirus infection acted as a catalyst. The system worked smoothly,” he said.

Verma, who is also the chairman of the coordination committee of all three associations of the lawyers at the high court, said library of respective associations inside the High Court premises have been closed & lawyers urged to arrive in smaller numbers.

The advocate general, who is also the chairman of the Bihar State Bar Council, said he has issued orders for closure of bar council building inside the HC premises till Mar 31. “All bar council members who have their chambers inside the building, were urged to keep them closed as precautionary measure,” Kishore said.

He said instructions have also been issued to remove all typing shops located inside & outside the HC premises after few crows were found dead inside the periphery couple of days back. “I have been informed that one of the dead crows was found to be infected with bird flu after tests. Administration has been alerted to inspect poultries located nearby the HC premises,” he added.

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