Bengaluru: The Madras High Court is among the 28 High Courts in the country that has been investigating cases through video conferencing (VC) since the lockdown period in the wake of the Covid-19 epidemic began.
According to data released by the Union Law and Justice Ministry, “Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana and Delhi High Courts occupy the next four seats respectively. These courts have handled 14.17 lakh, 6.92 lakh, 6.37 lakh, 5.20 lakh and 3.16 lakh cases respectively.
Similarly, Delhi is the first to handle cases through video conferencing in 28 District Courts under the jurisdiction of 28 High Courts. Allahabad, Patna, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are next.
The number of hearings held by the district courts in these jurisdictions is 28.79 lakh, 27.39 lakh, 17.51 lakh 6.80 lakh and 6.73 lakh respectively. Since Kovid’s inception, the District Courts have held 1.23 crore cases and the High Court has held 61.02 lakh cases through video conference till February 28,2022. Since the start of the Supreme Court lockdown, till March 14, 2022, there have been 2.18 lakh cases pending.
The Law and Justice Ministry said in the report that video conferences were the main basis of court proceedings because physical hearings and general court proceedings were not possible during the Covid lockdown.