On Friday, the Madhya Pradesh High Court moved its virtual sessions to the Cicso Webex platform.
Chief Justice (CJ) Mohammad Rafique launched the new platform, which was also attended by justices, including Justice Rohit Arya, the chairman of the e-court committee.
In his remarks, Chief Justice Rafiq highlighted the long-standing need for better video conferencing solutions. He stated that the customised video conferencing solutions will solve the issues that have existed previously.
Under the leadership of Chief Justice Rafiq, Justice Arya stated that the High Court has implemented dashboard, auto electronic mail system, e-court service with public service centre (LSK), District Court Reporting System, High Court mobile app version 2.0 launch, and CIS 3.2 software in Hindi for better case management.
After the Bar expressed dissatisfaction with the previous platform, Jisti, which was plagued by technological challenges, the move to the new platform became necessary.
Dr Vijay Choudhary, the chairperson of the Madhya Pradesh State Bar Council, wrote to Supreme Court e-committee chairperson Justice DY Chandrachud on May 24 expressing grave concerns raised by an overwhelming majority of advocates practising before the Madhya Pradesh High Court due to video conference hearings conducted using the ‘Jitsi platform.’ He advocated that the Madhya Pradesh High Court host virtual hearings using a more efficient and user-friendly virtual hearing platform, such as Webex Cisco or Zoom.
The Jisti platform, according to him, is neither user-friendly nor convenient for lawyers and plaintiffs. The Court hearing COVID-19 cases had to be delayed for the last two days during the hearing to allow technical staff to make things right when audio-video quality plummeted, making communication between the Bench and the Bar nearly impossible, according to the letter.
As a result, Justice Chandrachud wrote to CJ Rafiq, requesting that he take corrective action to address the concerns made by the Bar about the poor audio-video quality of virtual court proceedings in the MP High Court.
Any financial requirements for procuring an appropriate video conference solution, including licences or upgrading current systems, can be addressed to the e-committee, according to Justice Chandrachud.
