The General house of Punjab and Haryana Bar Council has passed resolution regarding resumption of work by starting physical hearing in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and in all courts in the States of Punjab, Haryana and UT Chandigarh.
A memorandum has also been send to Punjab and Haryana high court for opening of actual courts after relaxations were given in lockdown and unlock phase was announced.
It was submitted that actual working of court must be started at the earliest since the present working system is not only insufficient but at the same it is not providing proper delivery of justice. It was also resolved that matter would be reviewed and if need arises,path of agitation could also be chosen.
It was submitted that the facility of video conferencing has its own limitations and it cannot be said to be replacement for the actual functioning of the court. Despite the best efforts, the infrastructure in the High Court and in the Subordinate Courts do not allow listing of even all the cases of urgent nature which used to be listed in the cause list of urgent cases prior to imposition of lockdown on 25 th of March 2020.
The house resolved that The need has been felt to restart physical functioning of the courts i.e. High Court and the subordinate courts in view of the latest directions issued by the Govt. by issuing unlock phase-1 w.e.f. from 01.6.2020, which practically has removed all the restrictions on the movement of individuals and restart opening of shops, trains, aeroplanes services and commercial activities.
It was recommended to the high court that Special Committee of the Judges constituted on the subject to start the functioning of the Court by resorting to both the modes i.e. existing video conferencing as well as by normal functioning allowing appearance of the advocates.
Strong views were also expressed by some of the members that the functioning of the virtual courts has given a feeling to most of the common advocates who are totally dependent on the legal profession for their livelihood that virtual courts have given an added advantage to selective few advocates who are conversant with this system and can afford to have infrastructure needed for the virtual courts.
It was also submitted that total filling of the cases should be allowed in high court as well as in the District Courts through E-filing and physically.It was recommended that In the first phase w.e.f. 08.06.2020 besides virtual courts atleast 20 more courts be also started with normal functioning as the summer vacations have already been cancelled with similar functioning would also be started in subordinate courts.
It was further resolved that the matter would be reviewed regarding restart of physical functioning of the court after First week of June 2020 and to consider further course of action including resorting to path of agitation in case the request is not acceded to as the entire community of lawyers are deprived of appearing in courts and facing financial hardship.
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