How Do Virtual Hearings Work in Delhi High Court?

What a virtual hearing in Delhi High Court actually is

A virtual hearing in Delhi High Court is the same hearing that would have taken place in the courtroom. The judge sits on the bench, the Court Master calls the item, the lawyers argue, and an order is passed and later uploaded on the court's website. The only difference is that some of the people taking part are on a screen. Nothing about the law, the limitation period or the court fee changes because you joined by video.

The court moved to video during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 and kept it afterwards. In 2021 it notified the High Court of Delhi Rules for Video Conferencing for Courts, which govern how links are issued, who may join, how witnesses are examined from a remote point and what conduct is expected. The court also has rules on live streaming and recording of proceedings (2022), and the general position across courtrooms is hybrid: lawyers and parties may come in person, join by video, or a mix of both.

For criminal matters, Section 530 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS) allows trials, inquiries and proceedings, including examination of witnesses and recording of evidence, to be held in electronic mode. That provision mainly matters for the trial courts, but it is part of why video appearances are now ordinary at every level in Delhi.

This is a private law firm website, not the Delhi High Court's official website. The live cause list, the hybrid hearing link for each courtroom, the Court Master's contact details and the court's own video conferencing FAQ are published on the court's website, and those are what you should rely on for your date. Our page on the Delhi High Court explains how the court is organised and what kinds of cases it hears.

Who can join a video conference hearing, and who cannot

The video conferencing rules divide people into participants and viewers. Participants are those who may speak: advocates, senior advocates, parties appearing in person, government officers and police officers called by the court, jail officials, legal aid counsel and anyone else the court permits. Viewers may only watch; the rules contemplate accredited journalists and members of the public in open-court matters, subject to the bench's control.

If you have engaged a lawyer, you do not have to join at all for most hearings. The lawyer appears, and you get the order later. Clients often want to watch, and that is usually fine in an open matter if your lawyer knows you are in the meeting and you keep your microphone and camera off unless the court asks for you. Do not unmute to correct your lawyer mid-argument; send a message to him or her outside the meeting instead.

Some hearings are closed. Matrimonial disputes, child custody, POCSO matters, juvenile cases and anything the court directs to be heard in camera are restricted to the parties and their lawyers. In those matters the Court Master may remove anyone who is not entitled to be present, and a relative who joins without permission can cause embarrassment for the party who shared the link.

A person whose case is not listed has no right to join a particular hearing as a participant. Links should not be shared, posted in WhatsApp groups or forwarded to the other side's relatives. Once a hearing has begun, the court can refuse entry to anyone it has not admitted.

Where to find the hybrid hearing link

The hybrid hearing link is generated courtroom by courtroom, not case by case. Each court (a single judge or a Division Bench sitting in a particular room) has its own meeting for the day, and the link or meeting details are published along with that court's cause list on the High Court website. The Court Master may also email the link to the advocates whose matters are listed, using the email address given at the time of filing.

Start with the cause list. Find your matter by case number or party name, note the court number and the item number, then use the meeting details shown for that court. Our guide on checking Delhi High Court case status and the cause list explains how to search. The display board on the court's website shows which item each court is taking up, which tells you how close your turn is.

A party appearing in person, without a lawyer, can request a participant link from the Court Master of the court concerned. The contact details for each court are on the website. Send the request well before the hearing date, with the case number, item number if known, your name and your role in the case. If you are not comfortable with technology, the court has also provided video conferencing points within its premises, and its FAQ explains how to use them.

One warning that applies every week: fraudsters send fake links and messages claiming to be from court staff, sometimes asking for a fee to "list" a matter or "join" a hearing. The court does not charge you to join a video hearing, and nobody genuine will ask you to pay into a personal account for a link.

Joining a virtual hearing: step by step

This is the routine we follow with clients who need to be present on screen.

1. Check the cause list the evening before

   Daily cause lists are usually published the previous evening, with supplementary lists sometimes added later. Confirm that your matter is listed, the court number, the item number and whether it is in the main list or the supplementary list. If it is not listed when you expected it to be, ask your lawyer that evening, not at 10:30 the next morning.

2. Install and test Webex on the device you will use

   Use a laptop if you can; a phone works, but the screen is small and a call or notification can throw you out. Install Cisco Webex, update it, and test the camera and microphone. Keep the device on charge and close other apps that use the camera.

3. Set your display name correctly

   Join with your real name, and add the item number and your role (for example, "Item 23 Petitioner in person") if the court's practice or the Court Master asks for it. A name like "Samsung Galaxy" or "Guest" may simply be removed from the meeting.

4. Join early and stay muted

   Enter the meeting once the host has started it, keep your microphone muted and your camera off unless you are a participant whose matter is being called. If there is a lobby, wait there; you will be admitted when your item comes up or in batches.

5. Mark your presence

   Many courts ask advocates and parties to inform the Court Master, by the chat box, email or message as directed, that they are present for a particular item. A short line with the item number, case number and your name is enough.

6. When your item is called, unmute and speak only when asked

   Turn on your camera, unmute, and wait for the judge or your lawyer to address you. Speak slowly. If you did not hear the question, say so; a wrong answer to a misheard question is worse than asking again.

7. Note the order and leave

   Listen for what the court dictates: the next date, any direction to file an affidavit, any condition. Leave the meeting once your item is over. The written order usually appears on the website the same day or within a few days.

Typical time and cost of a virtual hearing

How the hearing runs once you are inside

Courtroom discipline applies on screen. The judge is addressed as "Your Lordship", "Your Honour", "Sir" or "Ma'am", and other counsel as "learned counsel". One person speaks at a time. Advocates appearing by video are expected to wear court dress; the court's guidance describes a white shirt and sober clothing, with the coat and band optional for video appearances. A party in person should dress as he or she would for a formal meeting and sit upright at a table, not lie on a bed or walk around the house.

Your background matters more than people think. Sit in a quiet room with the door shut and nobody else visible. Do not join from a moving car, a shop counter with customers walking in, or a hospital corridor unless you have told the court why. Judges have stopped hearings and passed adverse remarks where a participant was smoking, eating, driving or had other people prompting him off-camera.

If documents need to be shown, the lawyer refers to page numbers of the paper book already on the court's record. Screen sharing is used only when the court allows it. The court does not want new documents waved at the camera; anything that needs to be considered should be filed in advance through the Registry, as explained in our guide on e-filing in Delhi High Court.

Advocate B.K. Singh asks clients who must join to keep two things open on the screen beside Webex: the last order in the case and the index of the paper book. When the judge asks a party a direct question ("Have you paid the amount?" or "Where is the child living now?"), the answer is usually in one of those two documents, and a client who can see them answers accurately instead of guessing.

Who decides whether your matter is heard virtually or in person

The bench decides. The court's hybrid practice gives lawyers and parties the option to join by video, and the Supreme Court has also told High Courts, in Sarvesh Mathur v. Registrar General (2023), not to deny video access to lawyers and litigants who ask for it. But a judge can still direct physical presence in a particular case: for example, for a final hearing with a heavy record, a settlement discussion where the judge wants the parties in the room, or a contempt matter where an officer must explain non-compliance in person. Where physical appearance is directed, reasons are recorded in the order.

Some benches prefer counsel to be in court for long final arguments, and many lawyers choose to appear physically for important hearings even when video is available, because it is easier to read the bench and respond quickly. That is a judgment call for the case, not a rule. For interim stages, adjournments, compliance dates and Joint Registrar listings on the original side, video appearances are very common.

If you have been directed to be personally present and you genuinely cannot travel, do not simply join by video and hope for the best. Your lawyer should file an application for exemption or for permission to join by video, with the reason and supporting proof (a medical certificate, a travel document showing you are abroad, a letter from your employer), before the date. The court is far more receptive to a request made in advance than to an explanation offered after the event.

Jurisdiction: joining by video does not change which court hears your case

A common misunderstanding is that because hearings are online, any High Court can be approached from anywhere. That is not how it works. The Delhi High Court hears a writ petition only where the authority is located in Delhi or where the cause of action, wholly or in part, arose in Delhi, under Article 226(2) of the Constitution. A resident of Noida or Gurugram does not bring a matter about a UP or Haryana authority to Delhi simply because the hearing will be on Webex. Our guide on filing a writ in Delhi High Court if you live outside Delhi explains the test.

Pecuniary limits on the original side are also unaffected. A civil suit valued above Rs 2 crore goes to the High Court's original side at present; a proposal to raise that limit is pending, so check the current figure. Smaller suits go to the district courts, which also run hybrid hearings under directions issued by the High Court in June 2023 allowing parties to appear by video without a prior request.

Video hearings in the Delhi High Court are available before single judges, Division Benches and Joint Registrars, on the criminal, civil, writ, commercial, IP and tax sides. The Supreme Court and tribunals such as the CAT and NCLT run their own systems with their own links and rules, so do not assume the Delhi High Court's arrangement applies there.

Witnesses and evidence recorded by video

Most High Court hearings are arguments on paper, so evidence by video is less common than in a trial court. It does arise on the original side, where commissioners and Joint Registrars record evidence in suits, and in some writ and family matters where the court wants to hear from a person directly. The video conferencing rules provide for a remote point, a coordinator at that end, identification of the witness, and a check that nobody else in the room is prompting or coaching.

A witness abroad can be examined from an Indian embassy or consulate, from a location approved by the court, or as the court directs. The coordinator confirms identity, often by passport, and the documents the witness will refer to must already be on record with copies available to the witness. A witness reading from notes or looking off-screen at someone else will be stopped, and the court can disregard that evidence.

When a witness is to depose by video, Advocate B.K. Singh's practice is to send the witness a bound copy of exactly the documents on the court record, page-numbered as the paper book is, at least a week ahead. In a courtroom a document can be handed across; on video, a witness who is looking at a differently numbered copy loses time, and the other side will use that confusion in cross-examination.

In criminal trials, accused persons in custody are often produced from jail by video for routine dates, and BNSS Section 530 supports this. In the High Court, an accused applying for bail is usually not produced at all; the arguments are made by counsel. If the court wants to speak to the applicant, it directs production, sometimes by video from Tihar, Mandoli or Rohini jail.

What to keep ready before you join

• The case number, court number and item number from the cause list.
• The hybrid hearing link from the cause list or the Court Master's email, saved where you can open it quickly.
• A laptop or phone with Cisco Webex installed and updated, charged or on a charger.
• A stable internet connection, with mobile data as a backup.
• Earphones with a microphone, to cut echo and background noise.
• The last two orders in the case and the index of the paper book.
• An identity document, if you are a party in person or a witness.
• Your lawyer's mobile number, to message (not call) during the hearing.
• A quiet room with the door shut and a plain background.
• A notepad to write down the next date and any direction.

What usually goes wrong, and how to avoid it

The most common problem is not technical. It is the party who joins at 10:30, sees nothing happening for two hours, logs off for lunch, and misses the item when it is called at 12:45. The court then records that nobody appeared for the petitioner, and in a bad case the matter is dismissed for non-prosecution. If you have to step away, tell your lawyer, and rejoin well before your item on the display board.

Connection drops are the second problem. If you are cut off mid-hearing, rejoin immediately and inform the Court Master through the channel the court has published. The rules allow the court to treat a hearing as incomplete where a genuine technical failure prevented a party from being heard, but a complaint raised days later, after an adverse order, is unlikely to be entertained. Your lawyer should mention the problem the same day.

Third, people speak when they should not. A party who unmutes to argue with the judge, interrupts opposing counsel, or makes allegations on screen that are not in the pleadings does his own case harm. Fourth, people record. Screen recording or photographing a hearing breaches the court's rules, and posting a clip on social media can lead to contempt proceedings. Our guide on what happens if you miss a date in Delhi High Court covers the consequences of an absence in more detail.

Virtual hearings for NRIs and parties abroad

For clients outside India, the hybrid system has changed what is possible. An NRI respondent in a matrimonial appeal, a son in Canada whose father's property suit is in the High Court, or a director based in Dubai whose company is a party to a commercial matter can join a hearing without flying in. Time zones are the practical difficulty: a Delhi court day of 10:30 to 4:30 is the middle of the night in North America, so plan for that if the court has asked you to be present.

Video hearings do not replace the paperwork that has to be signed and attested. An affidavit sworn abroad must still be attested before an Indian consular officer or a notary of that country with the required authentication; our guide on how an affidavit is attested for Delhi High Court explains the routes. Likewise, a power of attorney or vakalatnama has its own formalities.

If you live abroad and have a case here, our page for NRI and overseas clients explains how instructions, signatures and updates are handled when you cannot visit the office. You can also read our guide on consulting a Delhi High Court lawyer online, which is a separate question from appearing in court online.

Is a virtual hearing ever a bad idea?

Sometimes, yes. For a final hearing in a matter that turns on reading many documents together, for a settlement discussion where the judge may want to speak to the parties directly, or for an urgent mentioning where counsel needs to catch the bench's attention between matters, being physically present can help. Lawyers often split the work: video for routine dates, physical appearance for the hearings that decide the case. Our guide on urgent listing and mentioning in Delhi High Court explains how urgent matters reach a bench.

Video is also a poor choice if your connection is unreliable and the hearing is important. A party who keeps dropping out during a contested bail matter or a contempt hearing makes things harder for his own lawyer. In that situation it is better to sit with your lawyer in the chamber or at the court's own video conferencing facility, or to come to court.

For most people, though, virtual hearings save a day's travel, parking trouble and long waits in corridors, at no extra cost. Treat the screen as the courtroom and the system works well.

What to do this week if your matter is coming up

Find your next date and check whether the last order required you to be present. If it did, tell your lawyer now whether you will come to court or join by video, so that any request to the Court Master or any application for exemption can be made in time.

Install and test Webex on the device you will use. Ask your lawyer for the last order and the paper book index if you do not already have them. Save the court's official website as a bookmark so you are not tempted to click links from messages.

If anything about your case is unclear, such as why you have been asked to appear, what the court may ask, or whether physical presence would serve you better, speak to the lawyer handling it before the date, not during the hearing. Our main page on the Delhi High Court gives an overview of the matters the court deals with.

If you need advice on your papers or updates on how hearings are being run, contact Advocate B.K. Singh.