Any lapse shall be viewed seriously: Delhi High Court orders AAP Govt to sanction Rs 1.44 crore for Cisco Webex for lower courts

Source:-https://www.barandbench.com

The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to grant sanction for the release of a sum of Rs 1.44 crore towards procuring licenses of the Cisco Webex platform for virtual hearings in 761 city lower courts in the national capital. (Anand Vaid vs Preety Vaid vs Ors)

Since the present arrangement with CISCO ends on December 10, the Court directed the authorities to grant sanction on or before December 8, 2020.

Stating that any lapse on part of the Delhi government shall be viewed seriously, a Division bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad added,

“In case of non-compliance, Secretary Finance, Delhi government shall be virtually present (on the next date).”

The court was dealing with the matter concerning the up-gradation of infrastructure and internet facility in Delhi district courts.

Advocate Sanjoy Ghose and Reetesh Singh, OSD (Examination), Delhi High Court today informed the Court that an emergency had arisen which required the purchase of 761 Cisco Webex licences for district courts, failing which there would be no virtual hearings after December 10.

The court was informed that the arrangement between the High Court and the platform was due to expire of December 10 and hence, there was an urgent need for sanction of Rs 1.44 crore from the Delhi government for continuing the same.

It was added that necessary approval for the amount had already been given by the IT Committee, Delhi High Court and intimation had been sent to the government.

In view of the fact that the virtual hearings in district courts would come to a “grinding halt” if the licences were not purchased, the High Court directed Delhi government to grant the necessary approvals by December 8.

During the course of the hearing, the Court also noted that in spite of its order, several pending proposals in relation to the needs of the district courts were not placed before the cabinet and even a status report had not been filed before it.

Further, instead of complying with its specific direction to purchase 23 cars for judicial officers, the same had not been done.

The Court took on record a Delhi government letter seeking to “hire” the cars instead of purchasing them.

Cautioning the Delhi government, the Court remarked that willful disobedience of its orders shall be dealt with strictly and asked the additional standing counsel Santosh Tripathi to advise the department to make compliance and not misread the orders.