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The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Registrar Generals of all the High Courts and some Tribunals to file affidavit on whether they are allowing hybrid mode of hearings for court proceedings.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked them to apprise if they have stopped the hybrid mode of hearings and the reasons for the same. "Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will do something we are thinking for long time to do. We will ask High Courts if hybrid hearings are being continued and if disbanded then why," said CJI. The bench issued notice to the Registrar Generals of High Courts and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and sought their response within two weeks. The top courts order came while hearing a plea stating that Punjab and Haryana High Court had completely stopped using video conferencing for hearings. Chief Justice has been vocal for use of hybrid hearings through video conference and physical presence of lawyers/ parties in the courts. In May this year, the CJI had written to all the Chief Justices of High Courts regarding the status of hybrid hearing, stating that litigants can't be burdened because judges are not tech-savvy. (ANI)
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