The COVID-19 lockdown has posed many challenges before the Justice Delivery System in India, however the courts across the country have eventually adopted themselves to the changing times and have come forward to ensure that Justice is available to all.
While different courts across the country are functioning differently, courts in Delhi have adopted the system of Video Conferencing to establish communication between the litigants and the judges. The courts in Delhi have developed a centralized e-filing system through which litigants or their advocates can file cases before the courts.
For filing the cases through electronic means one need to register themselves with the court server and create an account with the Delhi District Court’s e-filing portal. Once the ID is created, one need to select the case type, fill in the party details and upload the case document intended to be filed. If all the details are as per the requirement you’ll get a confirmation mail and link for the Video Conferencing from the court for hearing of the case.
Recently I filed a Mutual Consent Divorce through the above mentioned. I had received a confirmation mail along with the VC link for a hearing on 24.06.2020 at 10:30 A.M. Just a day before the hearing the reader had contacted me and informed me to submit a signed joint statement of the parties intending to get mutually separated as same would be time consuming and difficult at the time of the hearing. The same was sent to the Reader through e-mail.
The hearing started sharp at 10:30 with participants joining eventually and subsequently. Once the Judge, the parties, the advocates, reader and Steno were connected the hearing begun. The process was surprisingly simpler and convenient except for the weak connectivity. The counsels briefed the judge about the facts of the case after which the judge interacted with the parties and asked them if there was any possibility of them coming back together to which the parties expressed their inability. Since the joint statement of the parties was on record, judge confirmed the particulars of the parties including date of marriage, date of separation, current place of residence, amount in lieu of settlement etc from them. The court thereafter asked the parties to show their Identity proofs (Aadhar Card) and asked them to bring it closer to their screens so as to verify their credentials. After completing all the formalities the parties were granted the relief and first motion was done. However the court asked the litigants and their advocates to file all original attested copies of the plaint as well as that of the signed joint statements within 10 days of resumption of functioning of the Courts.
The sum up overall process was convenient keeping in mind the tough times we all are currently facing.
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***This article is by Adv. Sahil Khurana of his experience during CoVID 19 urgent hearing matter at a Family Court in Delhi***