DRT BAR ASSOCIATION DELHI & ANR.  Vs UNION OF INDIA THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE & ORS.

W.P.(C) 3796/2020 Page 1 of 3$~13
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of Decision: 15thJanuary, 2021
+ W.P.(C) 3796/2020 & CM APPL. 14046/2020, 14047/2020
DRT BAR ASSOCIATION DELHI & ANR. ….. Petitioner
Through: Mr. Sanjeev Bhandari, Mr. Vivek
Singh & Mr. Anand Aggarwal,
Advocates. (M:9810033444)
versus
UNION OF INDIA THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
& ORS. ….. Respondents
Through: Ms. Bharathi Raju, CGSC for R-1 to
6.
CORAM:
JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH
Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)
1. This hearing has been done through video conferencing.
2. The present petition has been filed by the Debt Revenue Tribunal
(hereinafter, “DRT” ), Bar Association, Delhi, raising grievances in respect
of the video conferencing hearings which are being conducted at DRT.
3. The grievance of the Petitioner is that the IT infrastructure, which is
required for conducting hearings is not being made available, thereby
leading to disruption in the hearings and an erratic filing system, among
other technical issues.
4. This Court has, from time to time, passed various orders in this
petition. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been
impleaded in this matter vide order dated 29thJune, 2020. The Court has also
recorded, vide order dated 15thSeptember, 2020, that video conferencing
facilities are available, however, DRT has not been functioning properly.
5. Ms. Bharathi Raju, ld. counsel appearing for the Ministry, has filed a
2021:DHC:182W.P.(C) 3796/2020 Page 2 of 3status report that as on November, 2020, sufficient funds have already been
released to the DRT’s Registrar’s account, in order to enable them to
increase the bandwidth, as also to set up any other requisite infrastructure.
The said affidavit reads as under:
“3. As regards the provision of additional funds
to the 3 DRTs for increasing the bandwidth from 10
mpbs to 100 mpbs, it is submitted that an amount of
RS.10,00,000/- each has been allocated to DRT-1 and
2, Delhi thus making their budget in hand as on
12.10.2020 to be Rs.16,40,000/- and Rs 16,39,000/-
respectively. An amount of Rs 11,00,000/- has been
allocated to DRT-3, Delhi thus making the budget in
hand with DRT-3, Delhi to be Rs.15,80,000/- ”
6. Today, Mr. Sanjeev Bhandari, ld. counsel submits that despite funds
having been granted and provided, there is no sufficient progress in setting
up the IT infrastructure for enabling virtual hearings in the DRT.
7. Considering the fact that several hearings have gone by during the
pandemic, and yet the grievances of the bar association continue to exist, the
following directions are passed:
i. A committee of Mr. Sarsij Kumar (M:9650006723) and Mr.
Zameem Ahmad Khan (M:9650006732) from the IT Department of
the Delhi High Court, are requested to hold a meeting with the three
Registrars of DRT- Mr. A.K. Pahuja (M:9560002835), Mr. A.K. Dhar
(M:9892375264) and Mr. A.K. Thakur (M:9560508744), two of
whom are present in the proceedings today. They shall assess the
requirements of the DRT in order to enable the smooth functioning of
hearings by the three sets of officers i.e. the Presiding Officers, the
Registrars and the Recovery Officers. The officers, apart from
2021:DHC:182W.P.(C) 3796/2020 Page 3 of 3interacting with the Registrars are also permitted to visit the premises
of the DRT, if required to make an assessment of the IT hardware
availability.
ii. The said officers of the Delhi HC IT Department may also meet
representatives who may be nominated by the Debt Revenue
Appellate Tribunal Bar Council Association, and understand the
difficulties being faced by the DRAT/DRT Bar.
iii. After assessing the requirements of the said tribunals, both for
e-filing and video conference hearings, the said officers shall draw up
the IT infrastructure requirement that would be needed in terms of
hardware, bandwidth and video conferencing platform licences.
iv. The budget which would be required for the same shall also be
drawn up.
8. A consolidated report, with respect to the said directions, shall be
filed by the said two officers of the IT department before this Court within
two weeks.
9. List for hearing on 12thFebruary, 2021.
PRATHIBA M. SINGH
JUDGE
JANUARY 15, 2021
Dj/Ak
2021:DHC:182