Kerala High Court Starts VC Hearing With 'VConsol', Which Won India Govt's Innovation Challenge

The Kerala High Court on Monday started using 'Vconsol', a homegrown app for video- conferencing which was selected by the Government of India as the winner of innovative challenge for video conferencing platforms.

The app was used for conducting the virtual proceedings before the division bench comprising Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Dr Kauser Edappagath and also the single bench of Justice Muhamed Mustaque.

The High Court had been using apps like 'Zoom', 'GoogleMeet', 'CiscoWebx' for virtual hearing since March 2020 after physical hearings were suspended with the onset of COVID pandemic. Now the High Court has decided to use this indigenous app, which has also been selected by the Government of India for its official purposes.

Last week, the e-committee of the Supreme Court had authorized the High Courts to select VC platforms of their choice.

'Vconsol' app has customized features for court-hearings. It provides separate log-ins for judges, advocates, court-masters and members of public. A notable feature is that the advocates get automatic entry to the VC hearing as soon as their case numbers are called. There is an option for judges of the bench to have private chat between themselves.

Another striking feature is the 'hand-raise' option given for advocates, which can function as a 'virtual mention' facility. If an advocate attending the VC session wants to make a mention, the 'hand raise' icon can be clicked to invite the attention of the bench.

Members of general public can also log-in the VC hearing as 'passive participants' to watch the proceedings of cases for which public access has been allowed.

'VConsol', developed by a Kerala-based startup Techgentsia Software Technologies Private Limited, won the Union Ministry's "Innovation Challenge for Development of Video Conferencing Solution" in last August. Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad, declared 'VConsol' as the winner.

Techgentsia was offered financial support of Rs 1 crore, with an additional Rs 10 lakh, for the next three years for operation and maintenance. The product will also be adopted by Centre through a contract.