Noida: Courts start functioning after long gap in 'virtual mode'

NOIDA: Courts started functioning after a long gap of almost two months on Friday with the concept of “virtual courts” where the magistrates and the advocates are seated in two separate enclosures and the hearings happen via video conferencing.
The district legal services has issued the schedule for the functioning of the courts of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM), additional district and sessions judge (I), special additional district and sessions judge (SC/ST Act), additional CJM (I), additional district and sessions judge (POCSO Act) and additional district and sessions judge (NDPS Act) for Friday, Monday and Tuesday.
At present, the courts are only taking up pending bail applications while advocates are supposed to email any fresh bail applications to the court officials by 12 noon for their application to be listed on a subsequent date.
According to a notice issued by the district legal services, only four advocates will be allowed to enter the court library at a time, where the advocates will be asked to argue the bail application of their client via video conferencing. The magistrate hearing the application concerned would be seated in the court room.
It says that the courts of chief judicial magistrate (CJM), additional district and sessions judge (I), special additional district and sessions judge (SC/ST Act) and additional CJM (I) would function on Friday.
On Monday, the courts of the chief judicial magistrate, additional chief judicial magistrate (I), additional district and sessions judge (POCSO Act) and additional district and sessions judge (I) would function on Monday.
On Tuesday, the courts of the chief judicial magistrate, additional chief judicial magistrate (I), additional district and sessions judge (POCSO Act) and additional district and sessions judge (I) would function on Tuesday.
All the courts will function for a fixed time slot on a given day for anywhere between 45 minutes to one and half hour.
Thermal screening, wearing masks and gloves has been made mandatory for the advocates and employees of the court to enter the court premises.
On Friday, the sessions court heard some 16 cases in total out of which, four were disposed while next hearings were given in 12 cases.
The secretary of the Gautam Budh Nagar district legal services Minakshi Sinha has ordered that the applications received online before 12 pm of every working day will be processed by the court.
Advocate Aditya Bhati told TOI that since the Allahabad High Court had been issuing fresh orders quite frequently, whether the courts will function from Wednesday or not would be subject to any fresh orders about the same.
“The court can remain shut or virtual courts may function depending on fresh orders received by the High Court next,” he said.