Virtual court hearings have increased efficiency, says Justice Kaul

Virtual court hearings have increased efficiency and it is necessary to utilise this system for which a vast infrastructure has been created and even large amount of money sanctioned by the government, Supreme Court Judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said on Sunday.

Speaking at the concluding session of the four-day long Delhi Arbitration Weekend', Justice Kaul said when the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the international arbitration community shifted to the virtual system and gradually virtual or hybrid hearings will become a norm and physical hearings will become an exception.

To keep the wheels of justice moving as much as possible, we introduced virtual hearing in courts and India being a developing country, faced infrastructural and connectivity issues but it did not take long for the stakeholders to find a way of operating efficiently, he said.

Justice Kaul was speaking on the topic Arbitration Vision 2030: What the Future Beholds?'

I would say the virtual system has