Virtual Hearing | Kerala High Court Advocates' Association Raises Complaints About Entry Restrictions To Chief Justice's Bench

The Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA) has addressed a letter to the Registrar General of the High Court of Kerala on Thursday, complaining about the prevailing entry restrictions to the virtual hearings happening at the Chief Justice's court.

It has been mentioned in the letter that the Association has been receiving several complaints from advocates, frequently encountering difficulties entering the Virtual Court proceedings of Court 1. This is the Court of Chief Justice S Manikumar, where he presides with Justice Shaji P Chaly.  

KHCAA has raised the following major issues:

1. Denying entry to advocates whose names are not shown on the cause list. As a result, advocates, especially junior advocates attached to many offices are unable to participate in the VC proceedings.

2. Delay in granting admission to the VC. Many advocates have experienced an extreme delay in being accepted to the VC proceedings. As a result, many of them have missed their item or major portions of arguments.

3. Advocates who want to mention cases, seek early hearing or make any submissions regarding listed cases are denied the opportunity to do so.

The letter penned by KHCAA Secretary K. Anand urged that necessary steps may be taken to resolve these problems at the earliest and that if online hearings are resorted to again due to contingencies in the future, these issues may be rectified.

Notably, the Chief Justice bench only allows entry of advocates whose names have been listed in the cause list to the virtual hearings. Several significant cases are heard at length at Court 1. 

Click Here To Read/Download The Letter