One crore 92 lakh cases heard by District and High Courts till April: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju

The Union Government today said around one crore 92 lakh cases were heard by the District Courts and High Courts till April this year using video conferencing since COVID lockdown started. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju said, District Courts heard nearly one crore 29 lakh cases while the High Courts heard over 63 lakh cases during this period through virtual mode. He said, the Supreme Court held over two lakh 61 thousand hearings through video conferencing till 13th of June this year since the beginning of lockdown period.

The Law Minister said, video conferencing emerged as the mainstay of the courts during the COVID lockdown period as physical hearings and normal court proceedings in the congregation mode were not possible. To bring about uniformity and standardization in the conduct of video conferencing, an overarching order was passed by Supreme Court in April 2020 which gave legal sanctity and validity to the court hearings done through video conferencing.