NCLT notifies revised SOP for video-conference hearings

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has issued a revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for hearing of matters through video conferencing. The Tribunal has notified that it will use the CISCO-Webex platform will be used for holding Virtual Court Room from August 4th

The mentioning applications will be submitted through email and if allowed a hard copy will have to be filed according to procedures prescribed under NCLAT rules. Once all the defects are cured the case will be listed in the cause list and will be published on the NCLAT website. The court fee will be paid through Bharat Kosh.

The standard protocol about one person speaking at a time in VC will be followed. All the parties will be given chance, in turns, to present their case by the Court and any attempt to jump in during the presentation by another party may disrupt the proceedings and will also invite ‘muting’ of the microphone of the disrupting party.

Invitation Link for appearance and viewing, as the case may be, will be sent by the Registry around half-an-hour before the scheduled hearing. A maximum of three appearance links will be provided per party (AOR, Junior Lawyer, Sr. Advocate/Arguing Counsel) and are not to be shared with anyone.

Each of the links sent to any device is required to be unique and hence, the parties may not share or forward the link(s) to any other person or device.

Parties are expected to not resort to any indecorous conduct or dress or comment.

Its been suggested to avoid use of mobiles phones as far as possible since signal drop/incoming call can delink an ongoing video-conference. All parties are also required to keep their MIC on ‘mute’ at all times, except when the Bench requires otherwise.

The notification has also annexed a step-by-step guide on how to join the Virtual Court Room through Cisco Webex Meeting using Desktop/Laptop/Tablet PC.

-India Legal Bureau