Most lawyers not comfortable with virtual court hearings, says SCAORA

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 2

The Supreme Court Advocates on Records Association (SCAORA) on Tuesday demanded resumption of physical court hearings from next month, saying 95 per cent lawyers were not comfortable with virtual court hearings for want of computer knowledge.

"We all must work collectively towards resumption of the working of the Courts in a physical setting, with all possible precautions, as and when the Hon’ble Court resumes in July 2020, SCAORA President Shivaji M Jadhav said in a letter addressed to Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and other judges of the top court.

Bar Council of India too had last month complained that litigants were unable to get justice through virtual courts that have been there since March 25 due to COVID19 lockdown

"Public and advocates are in the dark as to what is really going on in the various Courts of the country," BCI---which regulates the legal profession in India---had said.

"Some people are trying to take undue advantage of lockdown and the legal profession is gradually being attempted to be highjacked by a few blessed Lawyers and selected Law-Firms who have high level connections. The entire system is likely to go out of hands of common advocates," BCI had alleged.

Now CBI's grievance has found favour with SCAORA whose members alone can file a case in the top court on behalf of a litigant.

Listing the difficulties encountered by advocates in effectively presenting their cases in virtual hearings, SCAORA urged the CJI to consider imposing various conditions, including limiting the number of lawyers for a particular case, for the safety of all concerned.

"Most lawyers (almost 95%) are not comfortable with the Virtual Court hearings. The common feedback seems to be that the lawyers are unable to present their cases effectively in the Virtual medium and the same is acting as a major deterrent for lawyers to consent for such virtual hearings," the letter read.

“Many lawyers are not well equipped with knowledge on the use of computers and hence they are unable to participate in the process effectively...There are still several lawyers who are outside Delhi/NCR and in their respective hometowns, not having access to their files and thus unable to participate effectively in Virtual Court hearings, SCAORA said.   

It also complained about problems with audio and video quality of hearings due to which lawyers were unable to effectively put forth their arguments.