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Per the last court order, the state government was ‘permitted to initially set up two pilot Courts per Court complex instead of two pilot Courts per district’.
The Delhi High Court, On Thursday, emphasized the urgency of digitalizing district court systems, noting that technology becomes obsolete rapidly.
“Since the expenditure involved for hybrid hearing is less than Rs.500 crores and the policy of hybrid hearing has already been implemented in the High Court of Delhi by the GNCTD… the matter brooks no delay as technology becomes obsolete very fast”, the bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela outlined.
A plea was filed seeking modification of an order dated April 29, 2024 seeking to replace the phrase ‘each district’ with ‘each district court complex’. It was argued that such modification would result in the establishment of a total of 14 Pilot Courts instead of 22.
It was argued that the GNCTD was fully committed to implementing the project of providing adequate infrastructure in the Delhi District Courts for hybrid hearings at the earliest. This was particularly in light of the enactment and enforcement of new criminal laws. It was asserted that a series of meetings had recently been held to discuss, among other things, the roadmap to implement new criminal laws in the NCT of Delhi. These meetings included officers from jail administration, forensic science laboratories, senior police officers, senior officers from the Department of Law and Home Department, GNCTD, along with the Chief Secretary, GNCTD.
Furthermore, it was contended that to test the efficacy and smooth operation of the overall project of the hybrid system of hearing, it would be more viable to initially introduce the hybrid system in two Pilot Courts in every District Court Complex, of which there are seven, out of the proposed 691 Courts.
Therefore, the court allowed the petition and modified the impugned order accordingly.
For High Court: Advocates Amit George and Arkaneil BhaumikFor State Government: Additional Standing Counsel Anuj Aggarwal with Advocates Arshya Singh, Yash Upadhyay, and Siddhant Dutt
Case Title: Anil Kumar Hajelay & Ors. v Hon'ble High Court Of Delhi (W.P.(C) 2018/2021)
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