ORDER :

Writ Petition(s)(Criminal) No(s). 351/2023 [Item No. 31]

1. Mr. Sarvesh Mathur, petitioner-in-person submits that the provision for virtual participation is made available, in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. This is also the submission of Mr. Nidhesh Gupta, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

With the above, the petitioner-in-person submits that he does not wish to press this writ petition.

Noting the above submission, the matter stands dismissed as not pressed.

W.P.(C) No. 1239/2021 [Item No. 31.4]

Mr. Varun Thakur, learned counsel submits that as the matter has become infructuous, he has instruction to not to press this matter.

Noting the above submission, the petition stands dismissed, as not pressed.

W.P.(C) No. 941/2021, W.P.(C) No. 1051/2021 in W.P.(C) No. 1197/2021 AND W.P.(C) No. 254/2024

Mr. K. Parmeshwar and Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, learned Senior Counsel, refers to this Court's order dated 06.10.2023, where the Court while appointing the two Amicus Curiae, issued the following directions:-

"14. In this backdrop, we issue the following directions:

(i) After a lapse of two weeks from the date of this order, no High Court shall deny access to video conferencing facilities or hearing through the hybrid mode to any member of the Bar or litigant desirous of availing of such a facility;

(ii) All State Governments shall provide necessary funds to the High Courts to put into place the facilities requisite for that purpose within the time frame indicated above;

(iii) The High Courts shall ensure that adequate internet facilities, including Wi-Fi facilities, with sufficient bandwidth are made available free of charge to all advocates and litigants appearing before the High Courts within the precincts of the High Court complex;

(iv) The links available for accessing video conferencing/hybrid hearings shall be made available in the daily cause-list of each court and there shall be no requirement of making prior applications. No High Court shall impose an age requirement or any other arbitrary criteria for availing of virtual/hybrid hearings;

(v) All the High Courts shall put into place an SOP within a period of four weeks for availing of access to hybrid/video conference hearings. In order to effectuate this, Justice Rajiv Shakdher, Hon'ble Judge of the High Court of Delhi is requested to prepare a model SOP, in conjunction with Mr Gaurav Agrawal and Mr K Parameshwar, based on the SOP which has been prepared by the e-Committee. Once the SOP is prepared, it shall be placed on the record of these proceedings and be circulated in advance to all the High Courts so that a uniform SOP is adopted across all the High Courts for facilitating video conference/hybrid hearings;

(vi) All the High Courts shall, on or before the next date of listing, place on the record the following details:

(a) The number of video conferencing licences which have been obtained by the High Court and the nature of the hybrid infrastructure;

(b) A court-wise tabulation of the number of video conference/hybrid hearings which have taken place since 1 April 2023; and

(c) The steps which have been taken to ensure that Wi-Fi/internet facilities are made available within every High Court to members of the Bar and litigants appearing in person in compliance with the above directions.

(vii) The Union Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology is directed to coordinate with the Department of Justice to ensure that adequate bandwidth and internet connectivity is provided to all the courts in the North-East and in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir so as to facilitate access to online hearings;

(viii) All High Courts shall ensure that a