COVID-19 spike: Bombay Bar Association seeks online court hearings

Amid a rise in COVID19 cases the Bombay Bar Association has written to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court Dipankar Datta to permit virtual hearings before the principal bench of the courtIn a letter written on Saturday the BBA urged the Chief Justice to conduct hearings through a video conferencing interface or to at least permit a hybrid system of physical and virtual hearings to control crowds in courtroomsAfter the nationwide lockdown imposed in March last year all benches of Bombay HC had stopped physical hearings and hearings were being conducted in urgent cases through video conferencingHowever in December last year the principal bench at Bombay resumed physical hearings for all cases on four out of the five working days of a weekOn Fridays a few designated courts hear such matters through videoconferencing where the lawyers or parties are not based in MumbaiEarlier this month the Nagpur and Aurangabad benches of Bombay HC reverted to online hearings due to the spike in COVID19 casesThe BBA representation made through its president Nitin Thakker made a reference to the night curfew beginning in the city from March 28 in view of the seriousness of the pandemicA large number of advocates have tested positive for COVID19 We have been given to understand that a number of court staff and some of the judges have also been infected the Association said in its letterDespite this the crowd in the courtroom and the high density of people attending the court continues In some of the courts due to very heavy assignment and small rooms lawyers virtually stand shoulder to shoulder the letter addedIt said from a public health point of view the congregation of such a large number of people within court premises will inevitably lead to further spread of COVID19 across the cityThe request for videoconference hearings was being made to safeguard and protect its members as well as the public the BBA saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever