Pointing out that there has been some misunderstanding among a section of advocates that there is no provision for physical hearing of cases in thedistrict and trial courts in the State, the Karnataka High Court on Monday made it clear that the Standard Operating Procedureclearly discloses that the physical hearing is permitted as far as oral submissions are concerned.
Only in case of recording of evidence, the use of video conference is mandatory, and from August 31, as many as 75% of the Judicial Officers will be sitting everyday in district and trial courts and discharging the judicial work in court halls, Registrar General of the High Court said in a statement.
The SOP provides that 30 cases can be listed everyday for hearing before each judicial officer, the statement said while pointing out that 2,585 cases were heard through video-conferencing facility between August 1 and 28. A total of 16,061 cases were heard in the physical presence of lawyers in various district and trial courts during the same period.
While 1,301 cases were disposed of through video-conference hearing, 12,584 cases were decided through physical hearing mode during the same period.
.
