Jahanvi Agarwal
The Delhi High Court, this Monday issued an office order that read:
“The hearings shall be conducted in hybrid/video-conferencing mode in conformity with the High Court of Delhi Rules for Video Conferencing for Courts, 2021, and also bearing in mind the provisions of the Live Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings Rules of the High Court of Delhi, 2022,”
Before the execution of the said order, it was mandatory for the counsel/parties to be present in the courtroom physically and if they wanted to appear via video conference, they had to take prior approval in writing or through email at least a day prior.
With the help of the said order, the Delhi High Court has removed the geographical barrier as the counsel/parties can join the court proceedings via video conference from any part of the world.
The office order also stated that is the duty of the judicial officer in case of matrimonial matters to make sure that only the counsel and the concerned parties have access to the video conferencing.
Further, parties who are not related to the case, will not be allowed to join the proceedings in matters where the court is of the view that the publication would be “antithetical to the administration of justice” or the cases that “may provoke enmity amongst communities or which is likely to result in breach of law and order”.