Lawyers can take locals for 3 weeks, says Bombay HC

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed that advocates attending physical hearings in the HC should be allowed to travel in local trains on an experimental basis from September 18 to October 7.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni said advocates should apply via email to the designated HC registrar, seeking a day's pass for the date when their matter is listed for hearing before its four benches. After confirmation of the claim, the registrar will issue a certification of requirement for a day to advocates to avail of local services. The railways will verify the certificate and issue a ticket or pass.
If experiment works, HC will think of locals for all lawyers
When two advocates urged that the benefit be extended to advocates from lower courts too, the judges said that in the present situation they were not inclined to consider any other requests and would consider these at the next hearing on October 6. “We are doing this on an experimental basis in the high court. If the system works properly, we’ll think of extending it to the lower court,” the chief justice said.
The high court was hearing a public interest litigation and pleas by advocates to allow travel by suburban trains to attend court hearings across the city.
Last Thursday, the judges had asked the state government to consider allowing some advocates to attend physical hearings in the high court, observing that slowly the Covid-19 lockdown had to open.
Advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni said “prima facie, it is acceptable” to the state. He submitted a note on the arrangements for lawyers attending physical hearings in the high court which stated that it would be on an experimental basis. Additional solicitor general Anil Singh said in principle the railways was agreeable. He stressed that the ticket or pass should not be transferable.