"Effect of Lock downs on Courts".

BY
Name of the Student: Manas Kakumanu
Roll No: 2018LLB106
Semester: 5th
Name of the Program: 5 year (B.A., L.L.B)
Name of the Subject: Civil Procedure Code

Name of the Faculty Member

Dr. Bhagya Lakshmi
Teaching Associate, DSNLU

Date 0f Submissi0n:
31th December 2020

DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATI0NAL LAW UNIVERSITY

NYAYAPRASTHA, SABBAVARAM, VISHAKAPATNAM-531035,
ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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First and f0rem0st, I have to thank my research supervisor,  Ms. Bhagya Lakshmi Ma’am.
With0ut her assistance and dedicated inv0lvement in every step through0ut the process, this
paper w0uld have never been acc0mplished. I w0uld like t0 thank y0u very much f0r y0ur
supp0rt and understanding 0ver these past 6 M0nths.

I w0uld als0 like t0 thank my university f0r nurturing me and c0ntributing t0 utilize the state
0f art library, Where I fund s0me really inf0rmative b00ks that deals with my thesis. Finally, I
w0uld like t0 thank my seni0rs f0r their guidelines and mental supp0rt.

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 Contents

 Introduction
 Objective of the study
 Research Question
 Literature Review
 Scope of the Study
 Research Methodology
 Significance of the Study
 Lockdown affects on Legal Sector
 Accessing Justice Online
 A blue print for e-courts
 Role of Legal Service Authority
 Way of the future
 Progress in e- justice.
 Road map for e-courts
 Digitalisation of legal Sector of legal practise and work remotely.
 Prominent Case laws in Lock down
Ficus Pax Private Limited and others v Union of India and others.
M.C Mehta vs Union of India
 Conclusion
 Bibliography

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 Introduction

Many countries have introduced sweeping measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19
including lockdowns, restrictions on social gatherings, and the closure of public facilities.
These measures have had an unprecedented impact on criminal justice systems as
courthouses in several countries have had to close and suspend their operations.

But even in the midst of a public health crisis, courts must be able to fulfil their essential
activities and provide justice. These include dealing with urgent matters such as reviewing
the lawfulness of arrests or continued detentions.  

As a result of court closures and reduced operations, proceedings have either been delayed or
accelerated. In most countries, only what have been considered urgent cases have been dealt
with. This has resulted in increasing backlogs of cases in many jurisdictions. In addition,
people held in pre-trial detention have also seen their detention prolonged. This not only
violates fundamental human rights, but it also contributes significantly to prison
overcrowding.

Many countries have procedural laws which set strict deadlines on the various stages of
criminal proceedings. In an effort to tackle the inevitable delays, there has been an increased
use of remote justice tools such as video and audio conferencing. Fair Trials has produced a
guide on safeguarding defendants’ rights during remote proceedings and has called for
countries to conduct assessments of their impact, given the apparent interest in using video
links more permanently.

The reduced activity in courts and lockdown measures have impacted extradition processes
and cross-border justice more broadly.

Objective of the Study:

The Study aims to find the affect of lockdown on Indian Courts

Scope of the Study:

The Scope of the Study is restricted to affect of lockdown on courts.

Significance of the Study:

The Study is significant because it helps us better prepare for next lockdown nationwide.

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Research Methodology:

It is doctrinal type.

Literature Review:

The researcher referred the Journal- COVID-19 and affect on every institution. The author
keenly observed the trend of pandemic, how its affecting every body in the world. His
observations on legal field during lockdown is really appreciable.

The researcher also referred a various news papers for better insight.

Research Questions:

Whether new mode of online hearings better than traditional?

Mode of Citation:

Bluebook 19th edition

Lockdown affects on Legal Sector

The COVID-19 pandemic has essentially changed the legitimate, financial and social request.
In the present profoundly unsure circumstance and quickly evolving climate, legitimate
experts like different organizations and businesses are confronting new difficulties in their
training. The legal advisors will encounter a change of their training and the executives of
their law offices. Adjusting between legal advisors' expert direct duties and customers'
connections during the worldwide pandemic may not generally be anything but difficult to be
made. Therefore, because of the COVID-19 emergency, lawful experts should take a few
activities and execute some. The estimates which are taken to battle COVID-19 likewise
significantly affect lawful callings. The expert and common obligation of legal counselors
can be locked in on the off chance that they don't consent to the set of accepted rules,
unequivocally in a crisis.

The effects of the COVID-19 on the legitimate organizations and enterprises are various,
including terminations of law offices, the lull in administrations, nonattendance of customers,
retraction of arrangements and arrangements by customers, decline in the accessible labor
force because of sickness or disconnection and trouble to holding explicit gatherings and
administrations endorses in maintaining their business with regards to the continuous
circumstance.

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Accessing Justice Online:

With Indian courts too under a lockdown for three weeks (and presumably more), residents
have seriously limited admittance to equity for this period. Be that as it may, the more
profound disquietude is the finished failure of the regular court framework to convey ideal
equity. This shakes the very establishment of the commonwealth on which we rest our
protected guarantees. All in all, the regular court framework seems to have hurled a baffled
murmur and dropped the test as opposed to getting the gauntlet.

Innovation, be that as it may, presently gives us an occasion to address the difficulty head-
first. The Kerala High Court did precisely that on March 30, 2020. It made history by
directing procedures through video conferencing as well as live streaming the procedures.
The adjudicators led the getting with their homes. Almost 30 pressing issues were taken in
the mood for hearing, including bail applications and writ petitions, and were discarded. The
backers concerned and law officials likewise partook in the procedures from their separate
workplaces. This is really epochal. This model should be systematized and eternalised.

A blueprint for e-courts

To accomplish this, the public authority should build up a viable team comprising of judges,
technologists, court overseers, aptitude engineers and framework examiners to draw up an
outline for regulating on the web admittance to equity. Such a team should be accused of the
duty of setting up equipment, programming and IT frameworks for courts; inspecting use of
man-made brainpower profiting by the information base produced through e-courts projects;
building up fitting e-recording frameworks and techniques; and making ability preparing and
acknowledgment for paralegals to comprehend and to help backers and others to get to the
framework to document their cases and add to their pleadings and reports as the case moves
along. When the outline is prepared, the High Courts the nation over may allude the
equivalent to the Rule Committee of the High Court to outline fitting principles to
operationalise the e-court framework1.

The office should empower admittance to courts as well as should give admittance to equity
through different cycles too. Allow us to take a model. The public authority, both at the
Center and the States, has incalculable neediness mitigation and misery annihilation plans. In
the event that every one of these plans were appropriately executed, there would be next to no
destitution or misery in India. Things being what they are, the reason does this not occur?
There is insufficient mindfulness among the recipients about these projects. What is the plan
about? How can one apply? Where does one get the application structures? What is the
subsequent stage? Inside what time is the power expected to react? What is one to do on the
off chance that the person doesn't? The responses to these inquiries remain a secret to the
recipients. They constantly face a divider which they can't conquer. Presently, if this data is
given thoroughly at the grassroots levels and made accessible online in however many Indian

1
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/the-altered-court-order/article32993488.ece

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dialects as would be prudent, it very well may be a colossal advance in making mindfulness.
When this occurs, it follows that an ever-increasing number of uses will be produced.

Role of Legal Services Authorities

Anyway, what does this have to do with getting to equity? While these plans look blushing
on paper, without execution and responsibility there is no equity to the bothered residents. It
is in tending to this issue that the Legal Services Authorities Act of 1987 and the officials
working under them everywhere on the nation can assume an immense job. On the off chance
that there is trouble in getting to these plans, a framework should be set up for the candidate
to hold up online grumblings with the Legal Services Authorities who would then be able to
guarantee responsibility and compelling usage. The neighbourhood panchayat, city or
organization office, or any benevolent NGO can help the complainant to submit these online
questions to the Legal Services Authority if the complainant can't do so straightforwardly.
The officials under the Legal Services Authorities Act may then be approved to hear the
grumblings on the web and to guide conveyance of change to the bothered complainant as per
the law in a period bound way.

This is only one of the bunch manners by which admittance to equity can be improved
dramatically while at the same time lessening the weight on customary courts. Different
offices that would help admittance to equity are online intercession, assertion, guiding in
family court matters, snappy settlement of contested protection claims, and some more. India
is where talented human asset is infrequently inadequate. On the off chance that we can get
the resolution to do the entirety of the abovementioned, equity will turn into an open idea to
everybody.

Way of the future

More than 18,000 cases have been heard till June 9 by means of video conferencing by the
Delhi High Court and subordinate courts during the confined legal working period that
started on March 23-24 due to the Covid pandemic.

The accommodation was made by the high court library before a seat of judges Hima Kohli
and Subramonium Prasad.

While the Delhi High Court heard 3,787 cases through video conferencing, the subordinate
courts heard 14,482 cases till June 9.

During a similar period, the subordinate courts likewise heard 23,339 issues through actual
hearing, the high court noted while hearing a request looking for that a wide range of issues
be heard by means of video conferencing during the limited legal working2.

2
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/virtual-court-system-in-supreme-court-hits-a-
century/article32396629.ece

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he seat additionally saw that however the strategy of video conferencing embraced during the
lockdown was new to the adjudicators and legal advisors and every day hurled another test,
the high court and subordinate courts have adapted to the situation.

The perception came after the applicant legal counsellor could associate with the procedures
simply after two endeavours, and said he was at this point to get settled with the cycle.

During the conference, the high court library additionally educated the seat that around 30
regulatory requests have been given during the lockdown period to smooth out becoming
aware of issues.

Considering the entries made, the applicant, S B Tripathi, tried to pull out the request, the
court noted and stated, "the appeal is in like manner discarded.

Albeit most courts and councils’ structures have been open since 17 July 2020, in accordance
with general wellbeing guidance, the Lord Chief Justice has communicated questions that the
courts will work in a remarkable same manner until the end of time. Numerous appointed
authorities have discovered virtual hearings helpful and (all in all) fruitful, prompting
proposals that the innovation could be digging in for the long haul. Such innovation could
likewise assist with mitigating the monetary weights progressively looked by courts. The
thought is with the end goal that far off hearings will keep on occurring in common and
family matters where conceivable and choices on the best way to lead the hearings stay at the
prudence of the legal executive.

In any case, this triggers urgent inquiries, for the courts, however for judges, specialists and
customers.

Right off the bat, the effect of far off hearings on the procedures (and their blemishes when
contrasted with conventional, in-person hearings) should be considered by parties, and
eventually by the managing judge.

Furthermore, we could well observe a perpetual move in the utilization of courts to settle
questions. The drop in new cases and the expansion of elective question goal has just been
noted. The courts will likewise host to persuade gatherings (especially those with delicate
issues) that their meeting programming is adequately powerful and secure.

At last, and much more comprehensively, the public authority and courts should cautiously
think about the effect of virtual hearings on the interests of equity and the standard of law.
The danger of procedural injustice during far off hearings was noted in Hyde and Murphy v
Nygate and Rayment [2020]. Equity Johnson presumed that were numerous situations where
a far-off hearing can, with cautious case the executives, occur in a way that is reasonable for
the gatherings. The appointed authority proceeded to state that the conference could be
directed distantly in a manner that was reasonable, yet focused on that this didn't imply that it
should be led distantly.

Progress in e- justice

While computerisation was introduced in the Indian Judiciary in 1990, it was the e courts

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mission mode project- whose origins date back to 2005- that aimed at a closer integration of
the tech and the judiciary through the setting up of the infrastructure at the district level.

But the Vindhi report says that apart from timely collection of the pendency data and
automation of some processes, there is little evidence of tech being utilised for video
conference, e payment or e filing.

Roadmap for e-courts

While virtual courts are here to stay, experts feel these should not completely replace “brick
and mortar” court structures. Vidhi maps a civil case in terms of an end-to-end virtual courts
to analyse each stage under four primary consideration,

Urgency:
To enable basic access during the lockdown, a few courts have activated two key features-
virtual hearing and e- filing. These two aspects, along with authentications of orders, rate
high on the urgency index.
:
Impact:
There are four core users in the justice system that need to be taken into consideration-
judges, lawyers, registry and litigants.

Feasibility:
Some solutions, like video conferencing, are easier to implement than others, like machine
readable documents. None of the key stages of the justice system process scores high
feasibility and that’s why judiciary should open to collaboration and co creation of solutions.

Viability:
For a solution to be effective, it has to be adopted by every stake holder. The viability index
measures potential roadblocks to tech adaptation.

The report says while a specific solution may be more beneficial to on than the other, priority
should be to benefit the maximum number of stakeholders.

Hard Wired Issues: Administrative and Behavioural Change

A crucial element in moving to more tech-based solution is behavioural change. Vidhi notes
the technology has not necessarily meant more efficiency. For instance, e filing at Delhi high
court require that a hard copy of the petitions be filed along with a scanned copy. This kid of
digitisation has only duplicated efforts.

Vidhi also stresses on the need to enlist expertise from the fields of management, behavioural
change science, design and systems thinking to devise a holistic framework for technology
integration. It adds that a body of experts should steer digitation, eventually creating an
authority through parliamentary legislations on the lines of UIDAI, which was established
under Aadhaar Act, 20163.

Digitalisation of legal practice and work remotely

3
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/hearing-through-video-conferencing-successful-says-sc-allows-hcs-to-
decide-on-virtual-proceedings-11603729755206.html

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Social distancing is becoming part of our social culture. The COVID-19 has created an
environment of virtual workforce and distance practicing. The courts and law firms’ closures
or limited access led to the recognition of new technology in legal professionals.

The modification of the conditions for carrying out legal activities due to the coronavirus
requires developing or acquiring new skills and digital technology to increase productivity.
This situation leads to accepting the new technology in the legal professional practices.
Lawyers should be prepared to participate in judicial hearings via teleconferencing or
videoconferencing and other digital technologies and tools for conducting such operations.

Prominent Case laws in Lock down

Ficus Pax Private Limited and others v Union of India and others

Bench: Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, M.R. Shah

Citation: 2020 Indlaw SC 362

Subject: Regarding payment of wages in 50 day lock down period

Facts: The dispute aroused between the parties is related only for a period of 50 days i.e. the
period between the issue of circular and the lockdown 4.0 guidelines.
 So, for the in order to decide whether any obligation aroused on the employer during the
period of 50 days, the contention raised by the petitioner’s, that the Act have the power to
inflict financial liability on the employees or not, has been declared that it is beyond the
power of Article 14 and 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution and hence it contradicts the
Article’s stated.
 It was generally accepted that the lockdown has equally affected both the employees and
the employers, and all the industries have different nature and working capacities
including the financial capacity and not all employers will go bankrupt with the burden of
wage payment. But as the employees were willing to work for the employers, but cannot
do so due to the lockdown imposed in the country, even they cannot be punished by non-
payment of wages, so there should be a balance between the employer and the employee
in respect to the claims and should find a solution for settling down the dispute of wages
aroused for the 50 days period.
 The Court also stated that the settlement should be without prejudice to the rights of
employers and employees pending for settlement in the form of writ petitions before the
Court and also directed that the workers will be allowed to work without prejudice to the
dispute over arrear wages.
Decree: The court in Ficus Pax case (2020) said that right to wages is a pre-existing right
which flows inter alia from the contract of employment as well as broader constitutional and
statutory scheme flowing from Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution and encompassing

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Payment of wages Act, Minimum Wages Act, The Contract Labour (Regulation and
Abolition) Act, and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

M.C Mehta vs Union of India

Bench: Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta

Citation: (2020) 4 SCC 808

Subject: Relaxing for the sale of BS- IV Vehicles due to lock down

Facts: The govt. of India announced lockdown nationwide by the end of the march 2020, the
same time the due of expiry of BS-IV norms in India. The petitioners have approached the
SC for the extension of time for the sale of bs IV model since there is nation wide lockdown
and people unable to purchase.

Decree: The court stated, not more than 10 % of bs IV vehicles, except the dealers in NCR
and Delhi region who are permitted to sell only aforesaid to make good over the loss.

Sales to be done in within 10 days of lifting the lockdown.

Number of vehicles sold must be stated to applicant dealer.

Particulars of the sold vehicle must be submitted to court within 7 days.

Conclusion

Even though Pandemic has accelerated the digitalisation of Courts it has still far way to go, in
many aspects from access to behavioural changes. According to the Vidhi report that released
in 2005 most of the e technology in legal sector is e filing and few virtual hearings nothing
much has developed other fields. The courts in India still need human interaction for most
part because people habitual changes don’t change overnight, the pandemic fostered the
speed of change but there’s still a doubt of question whether clints, lawyers prefer this way.
Nevertheless, there’s a sign of positivity, the SC court delivered thousands of cases through e
hearings and S.A Bobde also appreciated the new way and said there’s lot of potential in e-
justice. For now, we only can speculate the e- future of legal sector. But, one thing is sure the
tracks are on the way for e-justice for now.

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 Bibliography

 http/www.westlaw.com

 https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/virtual-court-system-in-supreme-court-hits-a-
century/article32396629.ece

 https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/the-altered-court-order/article32993488.ece

 https://www.livemint.com/news/india/hearing-through-video-conferencing-successful-
says-sc-allows-hcs-to-decide-on-virtual-proceedings-11603729755206.html

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