The Madras High Court on Friday issued a notification therein prescribing the directions with reference to the mode of filing and hearing of cases in the Court. The hearing however shall be take place via video conferencing mode only.
The said notification is issued as a measure by the Chief Justice of Madras High Court to combat the spread of COVID-19 and confining the court to hearing only cases of urgent nature. The hearing of cases across courts in India is taking place by video conferencing to prevent the spread of contagious COVID-19 and as per the order of Supreme Court.
The notification provides detailed directions and steps to be taken by the Advocates/litigants who wish to list their matter before the court for hearing via video conferencing. The directions contained in the notification are as follows:-
- In view of the inconvenience to be faced by the lawyers, litigant etc. in physically attending court proceeding due to lockdown, court proceeding of extreme urgent matters shall be conducted via video-conferencing or otherwise through the r mode which is compatible to the Registry from time to time.
- For all matters involving extreme urgency, the Advocate/Party is first required to send the scanned copy of the Petition/Application/Grounds of appeal along with the requisite documents as filed physically in the Registry in support of their case, the scanned copy of Memo containing not more than 200 words citing attention to be required to hear the case during this exigency and the precisely made Written Arguments in PDF Format to the email ID – m.jothiraman@aij.gov.in and to the email ID of the Designated Officer concerned of the Registry.
- If Advocate/Party intend to file Petition/Appeal/Application against Union or State during this exigency, the Carbon Copy (CC) of the same is required to be marked to the respective Law Officers.
- The said Memo shall inter-alia clearly contain the case-details, contact-details of the Advocate/Party including e-mail id, mobile number and alternate number(s), Enrolment number and residence/office address with Pin Code. The said Memo shall also contain the undertaking that they will abide with the instructions given by the Information Technology Wing of the Registry for effective functioning of Court through Video Conferencing.
- The Court fee and other charges, if payable to the Petition/Application/Appeal so filed, shall be remitted through E-stamping facility by utilizing the services of STOCK HOLIDING CORPORATION OF INDIA LIMITED (SHCIL) through on-line mode or otherwise and the scanned acknowledgement receipt for the said remittance shall be sent along with the copy of the Petition/Application/Appeal.
- Advocates/Parties are required to remit Court fee and other charges that are payable to the Appeals/Petitions/Applications so far filed through email and Registered by the Registry i.e., from 26.03.2020 to 17.04.2020 within the period of two weeks from the date of Functioning of Regular Court.
- Upon receipt of the case papers along with the Memo, the same shall be placed before the Hon’ble Court concerned through e-mode, for obtaining permission by the Registry. If the Hon’ble Court concerned so directs, then only the case will be taken up on file, otherwise, the case shall deemed to be considered as non-emergent case.
- Upon receipt of the permission from the Hon’ble Court concerned for entertaining the case, the same shall be intimated to the Advocate/Party, if the Hon’ble Court considers as necessary, by the Designated Officer by return of email or by other means of communication as per the directions of the Hon’ble Court ii concerned.
- If the Hon’ble Court insists for the hard copy of the case papers, the Advocate/Party shall make necessary arrangements to furnish hard copy of the case papers that are sent through e-mail. The said hard copy of the case papers shall be handover to the Registry in the Pass Counters near Dr. Ambedkar Statue in the High Court campus from 10.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. during Court working days.
- The Registry would act only upon such emails that are sent to the email ID as specified above, and reply would be sent by the Designated Officer concerned, only when the Hon’ble Court so directs, to the same email ID from where the request would have come or by other means of communication as per the directions of the Hon’ble Court concerned.
- Instructions for participating Court Proceedings through Video Conferencing facility will be intimated to the Advocates/Parties by the Registry.
-India Legal Bureau