The Delhi High Court, through a notification today, has permitted the public viewing of court proceedings being conducted via video conferencing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Delhi HC has implemented the aforementioned arrangement with the underlying belief that ‘open courts; should be the norm. In this regard, Rule 16.1 of the Delhi High Court’s Video Conferencing for Courts Rules, 2020 states,
“In order to observe the requirement of an open Court proceeding, members of the public will be allowed to view the Court hearings conducted through video conferencing, except proceedings ordered for reasons recorded in writing to be conducted in camera. The Court shall endeavour to make available sufficient links (consistent with available bandwidth) for accessing the proceedings.”
Public viewing will be allowed till the time the stability of system is not getting disturbedThose who are interested in obtaining the links for viewing the court hearings can contact the concerned Court Master/Court official on their mobile phone numbers which will be published in the cause list. This is to be done by 9 pm on the day prior to the date of the hearing for Public viewing.
No request will be entertained once the hearing has commenced except with the permission of the court.Further, those who are given the link should ensure that their mic is kept muted and their video is switched off throughout the court proceedings.
