Advocates, litigants not to be asked to appear physically without consent: HC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has said a litigant or an advocate cannot be asked to appear physically before the trial court amid the COVID-19 pandemic unless all the parties consent to it.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva made it clear that in view of the high court advisories, the parties cannot be asked to appear physically unless it is modified.

However, recently the high court has issued a fresh advisory that in case parties do not appear even through virtual mode even after being intimated, the trial court is free to proceed in accordance with the law, the judge said.

In view of the above, the trial court is directed to take up the proceedings through video conferencing and not to list the proceedings for a physical hearing unless all the parties consent to the same, the high court said in a recent order.

The order came on a plea where the petitioner was aggrieved by a trial court's November 23 order directing listing of an over 40-year-old civil suit, relating to a property comprises of a graveyard, masjid and dargah of the revered Sufi Saint Hazrat Khwaja Baqi Billah (RA), for a longer date.

Advocate M Sufian Siddiqui, representing petitioner Muhammad Ajmal, submitted that the suit was filed as far back as on February 16, 1980, and has been pending since then.

He claimed that the respondent after getting interim protection in July 1982, has been delaying the progress of the suit.