The Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on 10th May 2020 in the review meeting held with Attorney General, Solicitor General and all the Law Officers, has declared that court proceedings through video conferencing may remain a norm for some time to come in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Attorney General and many other law officers laid emphasis on the need to strengthen the e-courts system by addressing the connectivity issues and by training lawyers in e-courts management.
The law minister, in particular, highlighted that during these challenging times overzealous public interest litigation (PIL) needs to be avoided, adding that one cannot stop anyone from filing cases but there must be an effective response to these types of interventions.
The Law Minister directed the Secretary Justice who is also a member of the e-Court Committee of the Supreme Court to coordinate to bring these challenges before the Committee and in coordination with NIC and other agencies, try to improve the system. It was felt that in view of the seriousness of the pandemic outbreak, Court proceedings through video conferencing may remain a norm for some time to come. The Law Minister, in particular, emphasized to take this challenge as an opportunity to make digital systems in justice delivery more robust.
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