Today whole world is under huge devastation of global pandemic COVID-19. People are dying in the number of thousands due to this disease and even most developed countries of the world is not able to control it. All the commercial and social works are suspended and closed. So, here the question of justice arise that whether this pandemic will shut down judiciary also? And the answer is no judiciary will work in this pandemic also to give justice to the society and people.

CONSUMER COURTS TO HEAR CASES VIA VIDEO CONFERENCING

During the second world war, when German Air force was creaking great havoc in London and led to many causalities and caused great economic distress all over the England. He asked, “Are the Courts Functioning?” and was told that judges are dispensing justice as normal then he replied, “Thank God. If the courts are working, nothing can go wrong.”So if the courts are working properly then any situation can be handled and country will be able to prosperous in crises also. On April 6th 2020, the Supreme Court of India took a very appreciable and tremendous decision by invoking its power under Article 142 to validate all proceedings through video-conferencing — not only those which were to take place in future but also those which had already been conducted and this article also binds all other courts in India to do same thing. India’s legal system has the largest backlog of pending cases in the world – as many as 30 million pending cases. Of them, over four million are High Court cases, 65,000 Supreme Court cases. So, this decision of Supreme Court was much appreciated.

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ORDER OF COURT:

On May 16th 2020, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and two district consumer forums will hear cases through video-conferencing from Monday. Since due to the nationwide lockdown all the economic activities are shut down but few of the essential activities are going on. So, it is really very necessary for the consumer courts to give justice in economic matters. The commission will hold hearings from 11 am to 1 pm on all working days. The Forum 1 will hold hearing from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm (Monday to Wednesday) and Forum 2 from 3 pm onwards (Monday to Wednesday). For Thursday and Friday, the timings of the two forums will be inter-changed. The litigant can send soft copy of their cases or applications by email to the court concerned, scdrcchandigarh19@gmail.com for the commission, registrardf1@gmail.com for the district forum 1 and registrardf1@gmail.com for the district forum 2. Queries can be made to the Secretary of the commission at 9988871967. The concerned advocates/parties will be sent the VC link on their mobiles in advance and all advocates are required to adhere to the dress code as prescribed by the Supreme Court.

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For case specific advice, please contact Punjab Haryana High Court Best/Expert Lawyers Advocates for Consumer cases in Chandigarh Panchkula Mohali.

This post is written Vishishta Mishra

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