Orissa High Court Raps Lawyers For ‘Indecent Behaviour’ During Virtual Hearings

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has asked the State Bar Council and High Court Bar Association to advise lawyers to maintain basic decorum and decency while appearing for court proceedings via video conferencing.

Expressing his unhappiness, Justice Biswanath Rath said arguing for cases outside the court premises does not mean doing the same from inside a running vehicle, the garden lawn and the drawing room, along with a spouse.

While arguing for cases via video conferencing, the lawyers should do so at the minimum from his/her home or temporary residence and they should maintain basic decorum, he added.

The judge made the remarks while hearing a civil miscellaneous petition, Hindustan Times reported.

Justice Rath referred to a case in which a lawyer argued his case from inside a moving car pleading that he had to attend another case in Puri and so was unable to argue his case from his residence in Cuttack. “This court seriously condemns the conducting of a case inside a vehicle on the road,” Justice Rath said.

“During the COVID-19 situation, extending arguing place beyond the court premises does not mean permitting one to argue matter inside a vehicle, from a lawn or from a drawing room allowing the wife to join in the proceedings,” he said.

“This court has had some horrible experiences while conducting court through video conference. A lawyer after finishing his case was joined by his wife even though the video-conference was still on. When the situation did not improve after frequent requests, the court had to disconnect the petitioner’s connection,” he added.

In another instance, a lawyer argued his case from his garden on the plea that he could not get proper net connectivity from inside his house, which proved to be wrong. The judge remarked that the same lawyer while appearing through video conferencing went on eating.

In June this year, the SC had upbraided a lawyer who appeared before a virtual court lying in bed while dressed in a T-shirt. The advocate had to tender an unconditional apology to the apex court later on.

In April this year, a lawyer in Rajasthan High Court had appeared in a bail hearing through video-conferencing dressed in a vest. The HC later pulled up the lawyer for not being properly dressed.