The Supreme Court stated that it expects that the technological advancements that have been made in the judicial institutions over the past few years should be fully utilised on February 6, while hearing contempt petitions pertaining to attorneys who engaged in vandalism in court premises during their strike demanding the formation of new Orissa High Court benches.

It was reported before a bench made up of Justices S.K. Kaul and Manoj Misra that the Orissa High Court may no longer need new benches because arrangements have been made for attorneys to appear virtually in 10 districts of the state. These districts' attorneys are now able to address the Odisha High Court. It was informed that the other State districts would shortly adopt virtual operating. 

The Bench stated that the existing provision in the ten districts is a commendable endeavour. It made some important remarks in this regard:

“...on the larger prospectus, we would like to say that in the COVID times considerable money has been spent on upgrading the technical infrastructure to facilitate hearing through the virtual mode, whether it be for Odisha or for other States and Tribunals.”

Referring to the allocation of substantial funds for upgradation of technological infrastructure in the present Budget, the Bench noted -

“Apparently, in the current budget also, large allocation has been made for technical upgrades of the judicial institutions. We are at times informed that there are some problems in Tribunals and some High Courts of the technical infrastructure not being used or dismantled…We would like to make it clear that money spent on the upgradation cannot be put to a loss and we expect all judicial forums, tribunals, district courts and high courts to utilise the technical infrastructure that is available to the best limits possible which would facilitate lawyers from attending proceedings either physically or virtually depending on their convenience.”

The Bench asked the Orissa High Court to take into consideration modifying the current nomenclature used to describe access through virtual mode, i.e., Orissa High Court, Sambalpur, Virtual, at the request of the attorneys representing the BCI and the other groups. The Bench was informed that the use of the word "Virtual" in the nomenclature could create the impression that the State has several High Courts.

Case Title: M/s. PLR Projects Pvt. Ltd. v. Mahanadi Coalfields Limited And Ors. 
Diary No. 33859/2022