The Calcutta High Court disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed during the peak of Covid pandemic highlighting the need for starting virtual hearings through video conferencing in lower judiciary including the other courts and the tribunal.
“We have travelled a long distance and the virtual hearing facility has been established in almost in all districts and they are working and the Hon’ble ECommittee of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India is also monitoring the effective functioning of the virtual hearings throughout the country and periodic reports have been submitted by the Registry of the High Court at Calcutta to the Hon’ble ECommittee”, the Division Bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta observed.
That apart, the computer committee of the High Court is also monitoring the matter and the Registry is also convening periodic meetings with the senior officials of the Government of West Bengal and highlighting the issues wherever infrastructural requirements are to be complied with.
Therefore, the High Court is of the view that the matter at this juncture can be left to be decided by the administrative side of this Court with the fond hope that the State Government will extend support to ensure that the project of virtual hearing and e-governance in so far as the judiciaries is concerned is made on par with any other State in the country.
The Advocate General has submitted that the Government of West Bengal has granted their no objection to the proposal of the Judicial Department towards executing the work of setting up video conferencing with land connectivity in court complexes across the State of West Bengal by engaging Webel Technology Limited (WTL) in relaxation of tender rules with a direction that WTL will execute the job by inviting e-tender .
The Advocate General has also produced before the High Court the copy of the note dated 12.5.2023 in this regard. It is further submitted by the Advocate General that in addition to the above, a financial sanction is being accorded to Rs 20 crore and the matter will be forwarded to the Finance Department on June 28, 2022. The above submission is placed on record by the High Court.