Six Senior Lawyers Urge Chief Justice To Allow Regular Functioning Of Bombay High Court

Senior advocates of the Bombay High Court have written to the Chief Justice Dipankar Datta urging him to consider allowing regular functioning of the Court at full strength as restrictions like social distancing etc will continue even after the present lockdown is lifted. But it will become difficult for the High Court to resume regular functioning after reopening due to numerous fresh filings and a huge backlog of cases, the letter states.

Igbal Chagla, Janak Dwarkadas, Fredun E De Vitre, Navroz H Seervai, MP Bharucha and Darius Khambatta have contended that suppose lockdown in Mumbai continues till the end of June and considering the total number of fresh cases filed every day as Court functions at limited strength for limited hours, once it reopens the backlog of cases will be too much to handle.

Presently, all benches of the High Court are functioning for a limited number of hours (between 12-2 pm) at a limited strength. However, data available on the Bombay High Court’s website indicates that as on June 30, 2019 over 4.5 lakh cases were pending. Further, between March 2 and March 20, 2020, 1,256 cases were filed (only on the Original Side) i.e. approximately 90 cases per day were filed.

The representation also quotes CJI SA Bobde and Justice DY Chandrachud on the concept of e-filing as both inaugurated the Supreme Court’s e-filing module on May 15. While the CJI said, “E-filing has virtually brought the court registry into the chambers of advocates”. Justice Chandrachud stated- “E-filing will enhance the right of citizens to efficient justice delivery.”

Consistent with the Supreme Court practice, e-filings should be available for all fresh filings and not restricted to ‘very urgent’ or ‘urgent’ cases.  All e-filings must be in searchable PDF format, with exhibits / annexures bookmarked and hyperlinked so that judges and lawyers can efficiently navigate through the record.

The Court should hold hearings with the full strength of all available judges from 11 AM to 2 PM and 3 pm to 5 pm on all regular Court working days, consistent with the Supreme Court’s sittings as reported in the media.

While mass transit is restricted the Court should make arrangements for bussing travel for all relevant staff of the Court. In this connection, the Kerala High Court has issued an Official Memorandum dated 15 May 2020 that “Steps are being taken to arrange conveyance facility from different locations in the district to the High Court and back, in coordination with KSRTC (Kerala State Road Transport Corporation).

All preparatory measures may be put in place now so that physical hearings may be resumed at the earliest. In respect of pending matters, the record will be required to be digitized before they can be listed. The High Court may consider employing a technically qualified agency for digitising the records and may also request assistance from the advocates on record/parties concerned.

If any assistance during hearings is required by judges to navigate through the record or screen sharing, junior lawyers or technical staff from Advocates’ offices may be allowed to assist the Court.

The pandemic should be used as an opportunity to streamline processes and increase efficiency for the long term.

INBA News Team