The administrative committee of judges of the Bombay High Court took the decision to hear matters in a complete virtual mode till the end of January 2022 or till further orders.
Bombay High Court will go into complete virtual mode till end of January or till further orders. (File photo)
Amid the rising Covid-19 cases in Mumbai, the Bombay High Court on Monday decided to go into complete virtual mode till end of January or till further orders.
The administrative committee of judges of the Bombay High Court convened a meeting with all High Court Bar Associations on Monday where Iqbal Chahal, Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was also present. Chahal told the associations and the judges that there was an exponential rise in Covid-19 cases in Mumbai in the last 48 hours.
In view of this, the administrative committee took the decision to hear matters in a complete virtual mode till end of January 2022 or till further orders.
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All filings of pleadings and applications in the registry was permitted in physical format till January 8, 2022 till further orders. There had been talks that the court would shift to hybrid hearing, allowing people who want to attend court physically as well as virtually depending on their preference.
However, after the meeting, it was decided that the court proceedings would be done virtually only.
The principal bench of Bombay High Court will now be holding virtual hearings with effect from January 4, 2022 till the end of January 2022 or till further orders.
On Monday, there was a lot of crowd inside the court premises. Even the court staff of Justices AA Sayyad and Abhay Anuja on Monday had to tell the lawyers to move out of the court room with the help of police constables as it was over crowded.
Even police constables outside other rooms had their task cut out while trying to regulate the crowd of lawyers. They asked them not to enter the court room much before the serial number of their cases are called out.
This crowding inside courtrooms could have prompted the administrative committee of the HC to go virtual, sources said.
Other benches of the Bombay High Court – Nagpur, Aurangabad and Goa — will continue to hear cases through physical mode as the number of cases there are not as high as in Mumbai.
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