Room 45A, 4th Floor,

Prospect Chambers Annexe

6, Pitha Street, Fort
Mumbai 400001
29th November 2020

To
The Hon’ble the Chief Justice,
The Hon’ble High Court of Bombay,
Fort, Mumbai.

Sub: Request to Allow a Choice between Video Conferencing

and Physical Hearings.

Respected Sir,

At the outset we the undersigned wish to express our deep appreciation and
gratitude for the herculean effort made by you and the entire Court to ensure the
smooth functioning of the Court over the past 7 months, at great risk to yourselves.

We have been forced to approach your Lordship due to the recent Office Order
dated 27.11.2020 issued by the Registrar General of Hon’ble High Court to resume
compulsory physical hearings until 10.01.2021 on an experimental basis with no
option of virtual hearings.

COVID-19 continues to grow and infect persons at a rapid pace across India,
new positive cases exceeding the 43,000 per day mark as on 26.11.2020. In
Maharashtra, the total number of new cases recorded on 26.11.2020 stood at 6,406
with 1,147 new cases in Mumbai city. In the past seven days Mumbai alone has seen
a 24% rise in the active number of Covid 19 cases. After a steady decline of cases
during October, there has been a noticeable resurgence in the number of new cases
in November, with the 7-day average of new positive cases exceeding by 3000 cases
as on 25.11.2020. The total number of active covid cases in Maharashtra as on
26.11.2020 is 85,963.

This resurgence or a second wave has been seen across the country with the
National Capital recording over 8000 cases daily after recording an average of 4000
cases a day in October. Other countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Spain,
Germany, Italy and many other in Europe have also been forced to go into another
lockdown after an unregulated opening up of public spaces and institutions.
 In the face of this growth in the number of cases, the risk of transmission of
the virus in Courts to judges, lawyers, Court staff, members of the Registry, clerks,
etc. is a real threat. Most Judges and senior lawyers who practise in this Court are
above the age of 50 with varying co-morbidities and fall in the category of vulnerable
patients at fatal risk should they contract Covid 19.

Even younger lawyers and court staff who may not be at risk themselves, but
live with elderly parents and relatives are at risk of transmitting the disease to
someone who could be fatally affected. As you know, in Mumbai, the extreme lack
of space leaves no possibility of maintaining social distancing at home and offices.
Whilst the wearing of masks serves as protection, contact for over 15 minutes at
close proximity with a Covid positive patient is sufficient to transmit the disease
even if both parties are wearing masks. Further increasingly the medical community
is acknowledging the existence of “long covid” which has led to otherwise young
and healthy patients remaining bedridden for three-four months at a stretch with
permanent damage to organs such as the heart and brain. The devastating impact of
the virus and its lasting after-effects are still consistently being discovered by the
medical community.

The interaction of persons in Courts is difficult to regulate, with hundreds of

matters listed across each District Court and the Hon’ble High Court on a daily basis.
Physical hearings, even in a limited manner, will exponentially increase human
interaction and consequently, the transmission of the virus. The Order states that
only arguing parties will be allowed into the courtroom and others will be required
to wait in the corridor. Having two counsels and a clerk for 49 matters wait in the
narrow corridors of the High Court would amount to putting lawyers and staff at
great risk.

In fact, many other High Courts in India have tested the waters with
experimental reopening of Courts, only to shut down again, due to the spread of the
virus within Courts. Whilst the Delhi High Court had also resumed physical hearings
the same had to be suspended due to the exponential spike of Covid 19 cases in the
capital which continues unabated. Even the Hon’ble Supreme Court has suspended
physical hearings for the same reason. On 17.08.2020, the hearing in the Jaipur
Bench of the Rajasthan High Court had to be suspended after some staff tested
positive for the COVID-19 virus. The Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court was
also reported to have tested positive for the virus. In recent weeks and months, the
High Courts of Karnataka, Chennai, Patna, Allahabad, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, and
others, have reopened and been forced to shut down again due to the detection of
positive cases. This creates a one-step forward, two-steps back situation, and only
reinforces the message that the highly contagious nature of this disease makes
resumption of physical hearings almost impossible to regulate.

The Delhi High Court has passed an Order dated 24.11.2020 in VM Singh v
Madam Lal Mangotra & Ors CM(M) 586/2020 & CM APPL.29734-35/2020
directing that whilst physical hearings may be attempted, it must be optional and no
one can be forced to attend hearings physically.
 Physical hearings were suspended in the last week of March when the
numbers of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra were less than 50. Physical hearings
were not resumed in October when the average total numbers were 60,000.
However, physical hearings are sought to be resumed (albeit partially) now when
the total numbers are 85,963.

The partial resumption of physical hearings in some Courts, with parallel

hearings over video conferencing in all other Courts, will create immense hardship
and confusion for lawyers leading to inefficiencies in the system. The simultaneous
requirement for lawyers to be present in physical and virtual hearings will create
great difficulty in management of time and cases. Lawyers will be forced to appear
while standing in court corridors, parking spaces. Further for lawyers and staff who
are dependent on public transport the resumption of physical hearings is particularly
arduous. As per the recent government notification staff are allowed to board the
local train only at 11am.

Further a lot of lawyers practicing in the courts in Mumbai have gone back to
their native places to be with their families during this hard time. Most of them who
have been able to appear in courts through video conferencing effectively, will now
have to return to Mumbai in pursuance of this order to suspend video conferencing.
The sudden influx of lawyers and staff in Mumbai can further have an impact on the
increase of Covid 19 cases.

Whilst we are well aware that judges and lawyers have had immense difficulty
with virtual hearings on account of poor internet connections, going through
voluminous briefs online, the lack of ease to hand over documents across the bar,
the past 7 months have allowed all parties to innovate and design methods that make
the process of virtual hearings as smooth as possible. Further, as Hon’ble Justice
Chandrachud has called upon the High Courts to embrace video conferencing and
virtual court platforms and has urged that the use of technology must be
institutionalised even after the lockdown. In fact despite the difficulties the Hon’ble
High Court has heard thousands of case over the past 7 months and it is widely
acknowledged that Cisco Webex is a stable user friendly platform that has
functioned very well.

We wish to clarify that we yearn for the possibility of full-scale resumption

of physical Court hearings and we as lawyers understand fully that virtual hearings
cannot be a substitute for physical hearings. However, during this pandemic, we
believe that the resumption of physical Court hearings cannot and must not come at
the cost of risking the life and health of members of the legal community. Despite
the lockdowns and restrictions created as a consequence of this pandemic, the
Hon’ble High Court and the District Courts have responded admirably to the
situation and have held court and conducted hearings far in excess of any other Court
in India. In the light of the reasons stated hereinabove, we request you to defer the
holding of physical courts for the time being, and at the very least allow lawyers the
option of appearing virtually should they feel at risk. Since the facility for video
conferencing already exists and has been in use for many months, its continuation
will cause no hardship or prejudice to anybody, but its suspension will force lawyers
either to give up their practise or risk coming to court against their will. Moreover,
video conference facilities will also allow litigants to participate in and follow the
course of their cases, which will not be possible with physical hearings under present
conditions. We are not against the resumption of physical hearings, but only seek
the continuation of the option for VC hearings. If there is any fear of confusion,
physical and VC hearings can be offered in morning and afternoon sessions
separately. By separating physical from virtual hearings, one may avoid any
technical issues or logistical problems that may arise.

We would also like to mention that this letter has the strong support of the
undersigned lawyers, both junior and senior, practicing in various judicial forums
across Mumbai. The endorsements have been received through an online google
form circulated amongst lawyers practising in Mumbai.

Thank you.
Respectfully,

1. Mr. Vijay Thorat, Senior Advocate, Ex. Advocate General

2. Mr. Prasad Dhakephlaklar, Senior Advocate
3. Mr. Shirish Gupte, Senior Advocate, Ex Addl Solicitor General of India
4. Mr. Ashok Mundargi, Senior Advocate
5. Mr. Y. S. Jaghirdar, Senior Advocate
6. Mr. Rajiv A. Patil, Senior Advocate
7. Mr. Rajeev Chavan, Senior Advocate
8. Mr. Prasad Dani, Senior Advocate
9. Mr. Amit Desai, Senior Advocate
10. Mr. Manoj Mohite, Senior Advocate
11. Mr. Beni Chatterjee, Senior Advocate
12. Mr. Sanjiv Gorwadkar, Senior Advocate
13. Mr. Rajendra Raghuvanshi, Ex Addl Solicitor General of India
14. Mr. Anand Grover, Senior Advocate
15. Ms. Indira Jaising, Senior Advocate
16. Mr. Iqbal Chagla, Senior Advocate
17. Mr. Darius J Khambata, Senior Advocate
18. Mr. Sanjeev M Gorwadkar, Senior Advocate
19. Mr. Janak Dwarkadas, Senior Advocate
20. Mr. Navroz H Seervai, Senior Advocate
21. Ms. Rajani Iyer, Senior Advocate
22. Mr. Subodh Desai, Advocate
23. Dr. Yug Mohit Chaudhry, Advocate
24. Aaditya Pande
25. Aakash Mehta
26. Aasif Navodia
27. Abdul Mannan P. Ansari
28. Abhijit M Patil
29. Adarsh Saxena
30. Aditya Bapat
31. Aditya Karekatte
32. Aditya N Mehta
33. Aditya Ramesh Pimple
34. Adv Sharan Sarsambe
35. Adv Ajit K Puranik
36. Adv Akshay Kulkarni
37. Adv Alizain Patel
38. Adv Anueshka Pavaskar
39. Adv Gaurav Sharma
40. Adv Kedar Pralhad Lad
41. Adv Pradnya Matkar
42. Adv Pranav Avhad
43. Adv Pravada Raut
44. Adv Racheeta Dhuru
45. Adv Rajeev N Kumar
46. Adv Sachin Rege
47. Adv Suddhasattwa Roy
48. Adv V S Lakshmanan
49. Adv Vaibhav Singh
50. Adv Vivek Babar
51. Adv. Aadesh Patil
52. Adv. Adhiraj Malhotra
53. Adv. Aditi Patki
54. Adv. Aditya Soni
55. Adv. Akshay Tapkir
56. Adv. Rohan Hogle
57. Adv. Anjali Neel Helekar
58. Adv. Arthav Sanghvi
59. Adv. Arvind Gautam Sirsat
60. Adv. Avinash Kamkhedkar
61. Adv. Gaurav Sandbhor
62. Adv. Gopal Bankar
63. Adv. Indraneel S. Godsay, Bombay High Court, Bench at Aurangabad
64. Adv. Janaki Bhide
65. Adv. Jitendra Patil
66. Adv. Ketki Gadkari
67. Adv. Kolsepatil M.G.
68. Adv. Kumar Vishwasrao Saste
69. Adv. Meghdeep Milind Oak
70. Adv. Onkar A. Wable
71. Adv. Padmanabh Shankara Shetty
72. Adv. Partho Sarkar
73. Adv. Pradip Ravindra Patil
74. Adv. Pramod Jadhav
75. Adv. Resham Inder Sahni
76. Adv. Ritesh Thobde
77. Adv. Rohan Hogle
78. Adv. Ruturaj Bankar
79. Adv. Sharang Chavan
80. Adv. Shraddha Vavhal
81. Adv. Shrinivas Bade
82. Adv. Sujay H. Gangal
83. Adv. Tejas Hilage (I4363)
84. Adv. Vilas Mahajan
85. Adv. Vriddhi Maria
86. Adv. Yogita Deshmukh Chitnis
87. Adv.Santosh Pawar
88. Advocate Hitesh Ramchandani
89. Advocate Manoj Thakur
90. Advocate Rishi Mody (MAH/4034/2015)
91. Advocate Sandeep H. Parikh
92. Advocate Savita Suryavanshi
93. Advocate Seema Chopda
94. Advocate Shreema Doshi
95. Ahmad Abdi
96. Ajinkya A. Joshi
97. Akanksha Agrawal
98. Akash Karmarkar
99. Akshay Abhay Patani
100. Akshay Deshmukh
101. Akshay Doctor
102. Akshita Bhargava
103. Alpana Ghone
104. Aman Arora
105. Amita Jasani
106. Amol Inamdar
107. Amrita Pratap
108. Anand Mohan (D/3314/2016)
109. Anil Vakharia, Tax Consultant, Pune
110. Anil Wagh
111. Anirudh Bhalwal
112. Ankit Kulkarni
113. Ankit Lohia
114. Ankit Saboo
115. Ankita Shah
116. Ankita Singhania
117. Anubha Rastogi
118. Anubhav Ghosh
119. Anuj Narula
120. Apeksha Sharma
121. Archita Gharat
122. Arjun Lingalod
123. Arjun Prabhu
124. Armaity Irani
125. Arshil Ajay Shah
126. Arti Raghavan
127. Arvind Rathod
128. Ashish Bhakta
129. Ashok Paranjpe
130. Ashwin Shanker
131. Asmit Agarwal
132. Astad Randeria
133. Astha Gaur
134. Ateet Mhambrey
135. Atit Shukla
136. Atul Rajadhyaksha
137. Atul Sharma
138. Atul Tungare
139. Aviral Sahai
140. B S Mahamulkar
141. B.D.BIrajdar advocate
142. Bernardo Reis
143. Bharat B Merchant
144. Bhavana Mhatre, Advocate
145. Bhavna Singh Jaipuria
146. Bhupesh Dhumatkar
147. Bimal Rajasekhar
148. C . Rashmikant . Advocate/ solicitor
149. C Rashmikant
150. Chahat Dhingra
151. Chandana Salgaocar
152. Chandni Chawla
153. Charmaine Bocarro
154. Cherin Lapashiya
155. Chetan Mali
156. Chirag Kamdar
157. Chitra Rentala
158. Darius B Shroff
159. Dashrath Kathod Gaikwad
160. Debashree Dey
161. Deepak L. Avhad
162. Deepak V Shukla
163. Deepakar Livingston
164. Deshmukh Yashodeep Pradeep
165. Devashish Godbole
166. Devika Gadgil
167. Dhanyashree Shah
168. Dharam Sharma
169. Dhiraj Mirajkar
170. Dhruv Joshi
171. Dhruvi Mehta
172. Digajmaan Ghanshyam Mishra
173. Dimple Chheda
174. Dinyar Madon
175. Disha Mehta
176. Dr. G. R. Sharma
177. Durgesh Khanapurkar
178. Elaisha Asher
179. Ferzana Behramkamdin
180. Firoz J. Bharucha
181. Gaurav Joshi
182. Gautam Panchal
183. Geetanjali Joshi
184. Gourav Mohanty
185. Haabil Vahanvaty
186. Haresh Shivdasani
187. Harsha Uppal
188. Harshad Gada
189. Harshwardhan Patil
190. Hridhay Khurana
191. Hrishikesh Mundargi
192. Hrishikesh Sopan Shinde
193. Hursh Meghani
194. Hutoxi Tavadia
195. Haresh Mansukhani Adv
196. Savita Suryavanshi, Advocate Bombay High Court
197. Ishan Ravindranath
198. Ishtiaq Ali
199. Ishwar Nankani
200. Jagdish Reddy
201. Jahaan Dastur
202. Jaideep Mhaske
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205. Jayant H. Pol
206. Jayant Satam
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209. Jelsyna
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211. Jinal M Shah
212. Jindagi Shah
213. Jinita Vaidya Shah
214. Jyoti-panickar
215. K F Bhot
216. Kapil Moye, Advocate,Bombay High Court.
217. Karan Singh
218. Karansinh V. Thorat
219. Karishni Khanna
220. Karl K Shroff
221. Kedar J. Desai
222. Keegan Pavrey
223. Khushboo Rupani
224. Kinjal Shah
225. Krushi N Barfiwala
226. Kunal Dwarkadas
227. Kunal Mehta
228. Lara Jesani
229. Laher Shah
230. Lakshyaved R. Odhekar
231. Leanne Dsouza
232. Lizum C Wangdi
233. M K Tiwari
234. Madhavi Nalluri
235. Mahafrin Mehta
236. Mahesh Mahadgut
237. Mahi Mehta
238. Malavika Menon
239. Manas Kotak
240. Manek J Kalyaniwalla
241. Manik
242. Mayank Chandan MAH/1056/1982
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244. Meghna Nachappa
245. Mehernosh Pardiwala
246. Merin Mathew
247. Mihir Kamdar
248. Mohammad Mehdi Abdi
249. Mohan P. Patel
250. Mohit Khanna
251. Mohsain Shirazi
252. Momin Musaddique Ahmed
253. Mr. Kamal Khata
254. Mutahhar Khan
255. N.R.Gandhi.
256. Nadeem Shama
257. Nandini Joshi
258. Nattasha Garg
259. Neerav B Merchant
260. Neha Bhosale
261. Nikhil Mengde
262. Nikhil Sakhardande
263. Nilesh Modi
264. Nipa Paka
265. Nishi Bhankharia
266. Nishiki Bhavnani
267. Nishtha Mohanty
268. Nupur Jalan
269. Nupur Raut
270. Nutan Patankar
271. P P Fouzdar
272. P. M. Mokashi
273. P.Y. Shankar
274. Pallavi Bali
275. Pallavi Dabholkar
276. Paresh Sainath Patkar
277. Parinaz Nagporwala
278. Parinaz Vakil
279. Paulin Mary
280. Paulomi Mehta
281. Payoja Ashesh Gandhi
282. Payoshi Roy
283. Pooja Sharma
284. Pooja Shroff
285. Poojary
286. Prabha Rathod
287. Prachi Jain
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289. Pranav Dessai
290. Prasad Pradeep Kulkarni
291. Prasanna Bhangale
292. Pratik Bhat
293. Pratiksha Avhad
294. Praveen Kejriwal
295. Priyanka Fadia
296. Priyanka Shetty
297. Priyanka Shetty
298. Pulkit Sharma
299. Punit Damodar
300. R S Irani
301. Ragini Ahuja
302. Rahul Dhote
303. Rahul Dwarkadas
304. Rahul M. Kadam
305. Rahul Soman
306. Rajendra Shah
307. Rajesh Gehani
308. Rajesh Hiralal Jain
309. Rajesh Hukeri
310. Rajesh Shivaji Jadhav
311. Rajiv Singh
312. Rajpal Geetika Naresh
313. Raju Z. Moray
314. Ramesh Vaidya
315. Ramesh Vaz
316. Rashi Verma
317. Rashmin Khandekar
318. Raveena Kinkhabwala
319. Ravi Punjabi
320. Ravichandra Kini
321. Ravina Rajpal
322. Rewa Nargolkar
323. Rimjhim Mathur
324. Rishabh Dhanuka
325. Rishabh M
326. Rishika Harish
327. Ritadesaí
328. Rohan Kadam
329. Rohan Khosla
330. Rohan Nadimpally
331. Rohan Rajadhyaksha
332. Rohan Wagh
333. Ronita Bhattacharya Bector
334. Rucha Jog-Raheja
335. Rukshin Ghiara
336. Rushabh Parekh
337. S R Nargolkar
338. S V Adwant Advocate
339. S. N. Trivedi
340. Saahil Bijliwala
341. Saasha Malpani
342. Sachin Chindarkar
343. Sachin S Deshmukh
344. Sachindra Shetye, Advocate
345. Sagar Ghogre
346. Sagar Pahune Patil
347. Sagar Sanjay Tambe
348. Sagarnil Banerjee
349. Sahana Manjesh
350. Sahil Mahajan
351. Sampada
352. Sana Hakim
353. Sandeep Todi
354. Sandip A Shah
355. Sandip Shelawne
356. Sandip Vimadalal
357. Sangeetha Ganesh
358. Sanjay Asher
359. Sarah Kapadia
360. Saurabh Bachhawat
361. Savina R. Crasto
362. Shaikh Abdul Jabbar
363. Shaikh Atique Ur Rehman
364. Shaikh Nasir Masih
365. Shailesh Dalal
366. Shailesh K More
367. Shailesh K More
368. Shanaya Cyrus Irani
369. Shantanu R Phanse
370. Sharad Bansal
371. Sharan Jagtiani
372. Sharmila Sheshadri Kaushik
373. Shashikant Vaghela
374. Shikha Rawal
375. Shiraj Salelkar
376. Shobhana Narayan
377. Shradha Achliya
378. Shradha Sawant
379. Shreya Kanaujia
380. Shruti Bhavsar
381. Shubham Agrahari
382. Shubham Kaushal
383. Shubhra Swami
384. Shweta Harshad Doshi
385. Shweta Sangtani
386. Siddhesh Pradhan
387. Smita S Telang
388. Sneha Sheth
389. Soham Banerjee
390. Sonali Mathur
391. Sonu Nilkanth Randive
392. Subir Sarkar
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394. Sudyumna Nargolkar
395. Sujata Mhadgut
396. Sukeshi Bhandari
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398. Sumeet Nankani
399. Sundeep Puri
400. Sunil Chaturvedi
401. Surabhi Agrawal
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403. Surbhi Agarwal
404. Susan Abraham
405. Swanand R. Ganoo
406. Swapana Kode
407. Tahir Siddiqui
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409. Tanmayi Rajadhyaksha
410. Tanveer K Malhotra
411. Tejas Chavan
412. Tejas Mane
413. Toufiq Kapadia
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415. Trushar Bhavsar
416. Ujjaini
417. Ujwala Dada Sawant
418. Vaishali Chaturvedi
419. Vanditta Malhotra Hegde
420. Varun Mamniya
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422. Veena Gowda
423. Veerdhaval P. Kakade
424. Vidhi Barot
425. Vidisha Rohira
426. Vijay Dinkarrao Patil
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438. Vivek Sharma
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440. Vyom Shah
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444. Yashesh Kamdar
445. Yashmaan Ghanshyam Mishra
446. Neela Dholakia Advocate
447. Yuvraj Dhole
448. Zacarias Kanjirath Joseph (MAH/6776/2015)
449. Zaman Ali
450. Zerick Dastur
451. Zubin Narielwala
452. Sagar Ghogre