Union Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday said overzealous public interest litigation (PILS) should be avoided during challenging times as the COVID-19 pandemic.
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In a video conference with the team of law officers headed by Attorney General K.K. Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Mr. Prasad said court proceedings through video conferencing may remain a norm for some time and the pandemic was an opportunity to make digital systems in justice delivery more robust.
“The Law Minister in particular highlighted that during these challenging times overzealous PILs need to be avoided. Though one cannot stop anyone from filing cases, there must be an effective response to these types of interventions. This was appreciated by the Attorney General and all other law officers,” a release from the Law Ministry said.
Mr. Prasad also said there has been a remarkable increase in the number of advocates who have registered for e-filing of case. So far, 1,282 advocates have done so during the lockdown, with 543 registering in the last one week alone.
“It was agreed that there has to be a uniformity in our approach and the orders of the Supreme Court should be immediately conveyed to various High Courts. The Attorney General and many other law officers emphasised that there is a need to strengthen the e-Courts system by addressing the connectivity issues and by training of lawyers in their management,” the Law Ministry said.
