The Kerala High Court, which was the first in the country to conduct sittings through videoconferencing during Covid-19, is making yet another first in live-streaming the farewell ceremony for a judge through YouTube.
The farewell ceremony, officially called full Court reference, for Justice CK Abdul Rehim, the senior-most Judge after the Chief Justice, will be held through videoconferencing through Zoom on Thursday and the function will be livestreamed through YouTube, officials said.
It was on March 30 that the Kerala High Court began conducting sittings through videoconferencing by using Zoom, emphasizing that access to justice cannot be denied even during the lockdown. However, it is not just hearing cases that comprises the judiciary.
It also has a lot of traditions and conventions that have an equally important place in its functioning. One such tradition is the full court reference, which is when the entire legal fraternity, including the judges, lawyers, staff, and advocate clerks come together to welcome a new judge or to say farewell to an existing judge.
Such references are also held when prominent members of the legal fraternity pass away.
Just like the hearing of cases, full court references are also to be held publicly. As the COVID-19 lockdown imposed by the central government is still continuing, the full court reference in view of Justice CK Abdul Rehim’s retirement could not be conducted at the chief justice’s court as is normally done as such functions are normally attended by a large number of lawyers and advocate clerks, in addition to judges and staff.
The High Court administration then decided to put to use the already familiar mode of videoconferencing through Zoom and then live-stream the proceedings through YouTube.
A notice issued by high court registrar general K Haripal said the number of participants to the reference to be held in the chambers of justice Rehim is being limited in view of COVID-19 guidelines.
As part of conducting the full court reference through Zoom, four of the senior-most judges of the high court will come to the court and attend the videoconferencing, said high court’s public relations officer TS Arun.
Representing the Lawyers, Advocate general CP Sudhakara Prasad and Kerala High Court Advocates Association president Lakshmi Narayan R will also speak at the function through videoconferencing, he said.
Lawyers, media, and the public can watch the full court reference live through YouTube at 11am on Thursday by visiting the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx_jFSNNmekluyFuB4tYJhg/live
In fact, justice CK Abdul Rehim is not a stranger to videoconferencing. It was a division bench led by justice Rehim that ordered for allowing a couple living abroad to attend the mandatory pre-divorce counselling through videoconference in October 2015. Modern telecommunication methods can be used for the pre-divorce counselling and the parties need not be forced to attend in person, a bench led by justice Rehim had held.
Justice Rehim, who enrolled as an advocate on June 11, 1983, had served as a government pleader during 1991-96 and as a Senior Government pleader from 2001 to 2006.
He was appointed as a judge of the high court on January 5, 2009 and had served as the acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court from September 23rd to October 11th last year. He is due to retire on May 2nd.
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