LEGAL DRAFTING II

SUBMITTED TO

DR. GHULAM ABBAS

SUBMITTED BY

MOHSIN ALI CHOUDHRY (01-177162-012)

RABIA IKRAM (01-177162-025)

DATE: 17th. APRIL.2020

BAHRIA UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD CAMPUS, LAW DEPARTMENT

 LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IN COURTS DURING
PANDEMIC:

Since the outbreak of the corona virus in Pakistan it has become a very concerning issue how
court proceedings will be done during such pandemic which limits social interactions and is
contracted by social contact. Supreme Court and Intermediate Appellate Courts face unique
challenges when conducting remote video oral arguments. This panel will discuss their
experiences including how well their remote video argument worked, preparation issues, and
highlight any technical glitches they faced. There are many solutions given forth for the court
proceedings in Pakistan such as online proceedings and many other ways but these solutions
have their pros and cons and we will discuss them in this assignment and see which solution is
more suitable for court proceedings. The main solutions I have found suitable for this pandemic
are discussed as follow:

THROUGH ONLINE USE:

As we have seen that through online use such as video conferencing that people are able to do
their school work and work from home for certain jobs as this keeps physical social interaction at
bare minimum and allows people to work and study from home but how well does it compare to
the legal proceedings in court. The court is basically a necessity these days too as many people
have their legal proceedings going on and want fast justice for their issues so seeing the online
facilities there are few suggestions such as video conferencing between the lawyers, judges,
plaintiffs and defendants but this does come with issues as we are all well aware that the internet
availability and internet speed in Pakistan is in poor condition and cannot be used for smooth
video conferencing and it would create a great barrier for the application of justice as the judge
would have a hard time listening to the plaintiffs and observing the parties during the video
conferencing and give a proper order as we have seen that the online classes that are given by the
universities are a big nuisance for the students and teachers as during the lecture either the
internet of the teacher or student is not good and it causes buffering during the video call which
makes it hard for the students to properly understand the lecture and is basically unfair to the
students as they have paid for the proper education they were promised hence seeing the side
effects from online education that universities are trying to adapt is failing to its core and purpose
hence the online way of conveying justice is very questionable and cannot be applied in Pakistan
keeping in view of internet availability in certain areas and the internet speeds hence it would be
unfair for the people seeking justice. The only way that seems right to the mind is that court
should only take online applications so a person can at least register their case and can wait for
the legal proceedings when this pandemic is over and it is safe for everyone to be present during
the proceedings but the video conferencing advice is not recommended as we can see the result
of it from students suffering from it and unable to understand the given lectures to them by the
teachers, So the best use of internet for the legal proceedings would be to just only allow the
registrations of the new petitions that would be later on proceeded by the court when the
pandemic issue is resolved. Another suggestion is that if no other way is found applicable then
the petitions that are filed after the pandemic should not be barred by time as the petitioners
could not have been able to properly give them due to the pandemic.

THROUGH STRICT DISCIPLINE:

If the courts proceedings must be done the courts should make the proceedings in strict
supervision to prevent overcrowding in the court and only necessary parties should be present in
the court among their lawyers and there should be proper check up of every individual who is
present in the court so the virus can be prevented from infecting other people present in the court
a suggestion is also to use modern technologies in court such as the automatic disinfectant
showers that would clean off any virus that maybe potentially on someone’s clothing also it must
be mandatory for anyone entering the court to wear protective materials such as masks and
gloves hence if we take all necessary precautions which are properly listed below:

• Must be tested if the people entering the court are either positive or negative for COVID-19..

• Must wear surgical face masks (not simple cloth masks).

• Must wear gloves.

• Must go through automatic disinfectant machine to kill off any virus that would be present on
the clothing’s.

• Fumigation of the court buildings should be done.

• Biometric staff attendance shall not be taken.

• Medical staff should be deputed to all the possible entry and exit points to measure the
temperatures of all the people entering the courts vicinity.

• Only necessary parties should be allowed in court.

• Proper distance must be kept between lawyers and their clients.

Another measures of precautions that can be taken is that to keep a big plastic sheet between the
judge and the petitioners so he is not under fear while preforming his duties hence giving him a
hundred percent satisfaction that he is safe hence keeping all these precautions in mind this
could be the most practical and effective way to hold legal proceedings which would prevent the
spread of the corona virus and also ensure the safety of all the people that are present during the
proceedings of the court.

CONCLUSION AND PERSONAL POINT OF VIEW:

The conclusion that we have reached to is that amongst this pandemic the legal proceedings of
courts can be done through two main ways the first is the use of online facilities such as video
conferencing and submission of petitions through online forum but the online way of legal
proceedings is not so efficient as seeing the condition of the internet availability and the speed of
internet in our country it would be quite difficult to follow the court proceedings through online
means as the slow internet would cause buffering during the video conferencing and it would
very difficult for the judges to hear the necessary parties and it would be more difficult for the
judge to make orders or decisions through the online video conferencing as when he would face
difficulty in understanding the concerned he would not be able to make a just decision on the
case and the case will not be judges under merit by any means which would be unfair for both
the parties as the a decision made by a confused judge would not make sense and would cause
much more uproar the second opinion for the internet use was too just submit the petitions
through online forum and no legal matter should be barred by time until this pandemic ends as
the courts would be closed but still keeping in mind this would not be the proper solution hence
make the legal proceedings through online use very inefficient and useless hence moving further
on to the other solution which would be through strict discipline which basically means that only
the necessary parties of the case should only be allowed in the court and that also those necessary
parties should take all the precautions to prevent the spread of the virus such as wearing masks
gloves getting tested for COVID 19 and also keeping medical staff at all the entry and exit points
of the vicinity of the court hence if all precautions are taken and strict discipline is kept this
would be a very efficient way to keep the legal proceedings going on without risking the any of
the court staff or endangering anyone’s life who is involved during the court proceedings. Hence
coming to the conclusion, it would be more effective to keep strict discipline and move the court
proceedings further on rather than using the online facilities which are a total fail and ineffective.
Orientation and ongoing training of all court, justice system, public health, and related agency
staff to assure that they understand the intent of the plan and their roles in the event of a
pandemic. Also as we have observed the decision of the supreme court to keep all the small
courts closed and only open for sever cases and also that the supreme court itself will stay open
is a very good initiative but the suggestion given about the strict discipline if applied properly
can be very effective and would be able to provide justice to people all over the country without
endangering anyone’s life and also preventing the spread of the virus. To ensure a court
effectively carries out its judicial functions during a pandemic outbreak, the court will need to
plan how it will address all of the issues outlined in this report. As a first step, existing legal
authority relating to public health matters should be analysed to ensure there is adequate legal
foundation for any court actions.