New Era Of Pre- Recorded Oral Arguments In Courts Amid Covid-19

In a criminal writ petition, in case of Sat Prakash Soni vs. Union of India, the corum consisting Hon’ble Mr. Justice J.R Midha and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Brijesh Sethi of Delhi High Court directed the parties on June 01, 2020 to record a video clip of oral arguments extending upto 15 minutes and submit to the court.

Apart from video clips, the court ordered to file brief note of submissions of not more than three pages attaching the copies of relevant pages of relevant documents on record, also, the precedents they rely on, highlighting the relevant portions of the judgements.

The order was passed for a miscellaneous application by the Petitioner in the Hon’ble Court seeking for advancement of date of hearing.

Additionally, parties are also asked for filing a reply to submissions of opposite parties through a two page note and a ten-minute video clip within a week thereafter. Post this, the parties are required to file hard copies with the Court Master within stipulated time.

The new practice of video clips and online brief note submissions in courts and to opposite parties are generally followed for miscellaneous applications filed in civil or criminal writ petitions.

The new fashion of pre-recorded oral arguments and notes amid Covid-19 was a much-required practice for saving time during judicial proceedings through a definite time allocation for oral arguments and specific number of pages for brief notes along with judgements on which a party is relying.

In other countries, like United States, courts have a pre-defined time limit for the attorneys to argue on the matters in court which leads to specification in argument and saves time of the court and justice is served earliest possible.

However, in India, the practice has been initiated to be followed by courts in the exceptional circumstances and the pre-recorded trend is only limited to miscellaneous applications for now. But, once an efficient practice is initiated and accepted by the masses, then it emerges as a regular practice with required amendments in no time. Covid-19 has brought transformations in the legal profession wherein virtual courts, virtual proceedings, recorded oral arguments, e-filings etc seemed farfetched concepts in India but now, they have become a regular and accepted practice among the lawyers and courts across the country.

By-

Tanishka Grover

Chair, Student Section

Reporting Committee, INBA