Is Rs 79.48 cr estimate by Delhi govt enough for hybrid hearings in trial courts: HC asks

The Delhi High Court Thursday asked its Registrar General to respond, after consulting experts, if the Delhi government’s revised estimate of Rs 79.48 crore from an earlier projection of over Rs 220 crore, for setting up infrastructure for hybrid hearings in the district courts here was “good enough”.

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh stated that it was “rather curious” as to how a “revised estimate” of over Rs 79 crore was arrived at by the PWD officials and then forwarded to the Finance Department of the Delhi government without the involvement of experts from the field of information technology (IT). The court noted that an earlier estimate of over Rs 220 crore, which was submitted by the high court registry to the Delhi government, was brought down to Rs 79.48 crore on account of lowered specifications of the infrastructure proposed to be installed for hybrid hearings.

“You have put a ceiling of Rs 79 crore at your end. Has anyone applied his mind to say that Rs 79 crore is good enough for virtual court? How can you go to the IT department later? So you will waste money and then upgrade?” the court questioned.

“Although the government should scrutinize proposals which involve the expenditure of public money and should endeavor to save costs wherever possible (but) the same has to be done with due application of mind. It appears that the revised estimate of Rs 79 crore has been approved without obtaining the approval of the IT department for the reduced specifications,” the bench said. “We direct the Registrar General to respond to the revised estimate by PWD and it should specifically state whether revised specifications are good enough to conduct proceedings in hybrid court. The response of the Registrar General should be duly supported with expert opinion,” it ordered and posted the next hearing on November 9.

The high court was hearing two pleas by lawyers Anil Kumar Hajelay and Manashwy Jha seeking various prayers including conducting hybrid hearings in district courts on physical hearing days because of the COVID-19 threat.

Delhi government counsel Shadan Farasat said that the revised estimate of Rs 79 crore has received “in principle” approval from the Finance Department and after the receipt of a “proposal” from the relevant authorities, the same shall be sent to the IT department of Delhi government for further approval.

He added that IT experts were “taken in confidence” while deciding the revised estimate and in case the infrastructure needs an upgrade, the same shall be done.

“Upgradation will require more switches and the initial system will not go to waste,” the lawyer said.

The court sought further status reports from the Delhi government after it receives approval from its IT department as well as on the outcome of its meeting with the representatives of tribunals functioning under it, on the infrastructure required for hybrid hearings.

On October 5, the court had sought to know the exact time when the system would be set in place in the trial courts, saying that the purpose of the exercise was to ensure that no inconvenience is caused to advocates and litigants in case a third wave of COVID-19 pandemic comes.

The court had then directed the Delhi government to place on record its status report regarding sanctioning of Rs 79.48 crore for setting up infrastructure for the hybrid system in the subordinate courts here.

“The bird view is that if at all the third wave of the pandemic comes, people shall not be required to go to courts and the hybrid system shall be put in place,” it had said.

The court had earlier made it clear to the Delhi government that if the proposal to set up infrastructure for hybrid hearings in trial courts and quasi-judicial bodies is turned down on grounds of expenditure, it will examine expenses incurred by it on subsidies and public advertisements from April 2020.

It had also directed the Delhi government to take expeditious steps to provide proper infrastructure for the purpose and said it was mindful that the authorities incur huge money on subsidies and advertisements.

The high court had earlier expressed “complete dissatisfaction” over the Delhi government’s conduct of not providing proper infrastructure to facilitate hybrid hearings in trial courts and quasi-judicial bodies here and had said little sensitivity needed to be shown by the authorities.

It had said the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic was expected and for the last four months, nothing has happened in terms of providing infrastructure for facilitating virtual hearings in district courts.

The court had in March asked its Registrar General to assess the infrastructural requirements at the earliest to facilitate hybrid hearings in the trial court and forward the details to the Delhi government.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)