Allahabad High Court (Lucknow): Physical Hearing Of Cases To Start From November 02, Virtual Hearing To Continue [Read Notification]

In the notification issued by the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench), it has been mentioned that only those Learned Advocates (irrespective of their age) shall be permitted to enter the Corridors & Court Rooms whose cases are to be taken by the Hon'ble Court w.e.f. 02.11.2020.

In consonance with all the earlier Modalities/Guidelines issued, the following guidelines have been issued by the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench):

* The Learned Advocates shall be permitted to enter and exit from the Court Rooms from the doors situated in front of Chakra at the first floor of the High Court only.

* No person shall be permitted to enter the Corridors and the Court Rooms from the doors, corridors, stairs, ramp, escalator or through the lifts situated near regular filing counter at the ground floor.

* Hearing of a case shall either be done through physical hearing or through videoconferencing. Any Advocate/in-person desirous of joining Court proceedings of the Court through internet-based Video­Conferencing shall have to obtain the consent of the Advocate of the other party/in person for the hearing of the case through video­conferencing.

* After the consent has been obtained, an e­mail shall be sent by the Advocate/in person indicating his/her mobile numbers registered on AOR along with cases details (i.e. Court Number, Serial number, parties names, nature of cases, case number, year), the consent of the Advocate of the other party/in person and his/her E­mail ID with a request for being provided a VideoConferencing Link to enable them to join the Court proceedings. This e­mail has to be lodged with the High Court on the e­mail ID request_vc_lko@allahabadhighcourt.in not later than 08.00 P.M., one day before the date of hearing.

* The Advocates of parties/Government Counsel/in person are not permitted to share the video link with any other individual except with those who are disclosed as representing party on E­file/petition/application.

* Not more than two advocates for a party shall be permitted on the video platform of the actual hearing.

* All the Courts may fix a separate time for hearing of cases through videoconferencing.

* Not more than 6 (six) Advocates will be permitted to remain in the Court Room at any given time.

* The Learned Advocates will not be permitted to roam around in the corridors of Hon'ble Court. The Learned Advocates shall leave the corridors and Court Rooms immediately after hearing of their case(s).

* No person shall be allowed to enter in the High Court campus without observing all protocols necessary to maintain social and physical distancing.

* All the guidelines issued by the Central Government and the Government of Uttar Pradesh regarding Covid­19 must be followed.

Notably, the Rajasthan High Court on Friday (23^rd October) issued a notification informing that it will start to regularly function from November 2, 2020, however, all preventive measures for effective control and containment of the spread of COVID-19 will remain in operation.

In the notification issued by the Rajasthan High Court, it has been mentioned that the suggestions received from The Bar Council of Rajasthan, Rajasthan High Court Advocates Association, Jodhpur, Rajasthan High Court Lawyers' Association, Jodhpur, Rajasthan High Court Bar Association, Jaipur and inputs received from the Registry have been considered while issuing such a direction.