Virtual hearing software glitch stalls Delhi HC proceedings for 45 minutes

NEW DELHI: Virtual hearings in the Delhi High Court were delayed by nearly 45 minutes on Thursday morning due to a technical fault in the video conferencing software.

The hearings were to start at 10.30 am but commenced around 11.15am.

Court masters of several benches said the WebEx platform being used for online proceedings apparently faltered and they had to face anxious calls from lawyers and litigants.

They said courts across the country where the WebEx software was being used were facing this problem.

The Delhi High Court Registrar General's office also confirmed the software did not work.

When trying to log in to the hearings via the video conference link, a message was displayed: "Cisco WebEx had a problem processing your request.

Some lawyers reported that the software was facing operational issues in other courts too, like in the Rajasthan High Court and Punjab and Haryana High Court.

WebEx is a software developed by the US-based Cisco WebEx.

Since the courts in the national capital switched to virtual hearings, from March 24 onwards, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been using the WebEx platform.

The Supreme Court, however, does not use the software and its proceedings are held on another software called the 'Vidyo' app.