The Karnataka High Court has initiated a suo motu case to address legal and technical issues that will crop up when trial courts resume partial functioning from June 1 restricting entry of advocates and litigants into the court premises due to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued in view of COVID-19 restrictions.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Sheeeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj also asked senior advocates Udaya Holla and C.V. Nagesh to assist the court as amicus curiae to find solutions to the issues.
One such issue, the Bench said, will be of insistence by the courts of judicial magistrates for personal presence of the complainants at the time of filing complaints under Section 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and especially, private complaints for the offence punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
A similar issue will arise about personal presence of the parties at the time of presentation of matrimonial petitions. And Under the Video Conferencing Rules, framed by the High Court of Karnataka, it is permissible to record the statements of the accused under Section 313 of CrPC by video conferencing, the Bench pointed out.
It is also permissible to record the statement under Section 164 of CrPC by taking recourse to video conferencing. Another issue is whether video conferencing hearing can be conducted for framing of charge and for recording of plea. The other issue which is relevant in the present day context is of conduct of remand proceedings through video conferencing, the Bench noted.
Though confidentiality is attached to the mediation/conciliation meetings, the issue is whether by adopting all possible safety measures, mediation/conciliation meetings can be held through video conferencing hearing, the Bench observed.
