Delhi HC Orders No Adverse Verdicts Be Pronounced In Case Of Absence Of Advocate In A Physical Hearing

OVERVIEW

Delhi High Court on February 26 ordered that in case an advocate is absent for the physical hearing, no adverse orders shall be passed by the lower courts.

The case in point was Anil Kumar v. Hon'ble High Court of Delhi, with a petition seeking hybrid hearings and lower courts on physical hearing dates due to the rise in COVID-19 threat.

The single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba Singh passed the direction addressing the plea put forth by practicing lawyers who are all senior citizens.

FURTHER DETAILS 

During the proceeding it was submitted by the petitioners, Advocates Atul Nagrajan, Anat Kumar Hajelay, Devendra Verma, Shreya Arneja and Rajat Gautam, that ex parte adverse orders were being pronounced in case of non-appearance of counsels.

“We then have to both the High Court, Even NBWs are being issued against senior citizens.”

The petitioners sought that hybrid hearings be conducted on physical hearing days too for the advocates who suffer from ‘co-morbidities' and are not able to appear before the court in view of the threat of the pandemic.

The bench asked for a ‘status report' on the final date of hearing, regarding the current functioning of subordinate courts in Delhi and if adequate infrastructure is provided to them to hold hybrid hearings. The petitioner stated that several district courts are unable to conduct hybrid hearings due to various reasons such as lack of infrastructure and bad internet connectivity.

The Court finally noted that the report regarding the same had been submitted to the Registrar General.

“Considering the large amounts of apprehensions expressed in appearing before physical courts, in district courts, no adverse orders shall be passed if the counsel does not appear physically.”

CONCLUSION

The Court, in view of the above contentions, ruled that adverse orders shall not be passed in lower courts if the counsel is not present physically and adjourned the matter for March 4 to address the report submitted to the Registrar General.

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