Publication: The Times Of India Ahmedabad; Date: Aug 20, 2012; Section: Times Nation; Page: 8
HC allows NRI doctor to attend hearings through SkypeAbhinav Garg TNN
New Delhi:
Broadening the scope of videoconferencing in court cases, which is still very restricted in the country, the Calcutta High Court permitted a
US-based NRI doctor to oppose a petition through the videoconferencing
application, Skype.
Justice Aniruddha Bose allowed Dr Kunal Saha to give oral
submissions through Skype and participate in live court hearings of a case in which two doctors from the state have challenged the cancellation of their medical licences by the Medical Council of India.
Till now, videoconferencing has been utilized for examination of a witness or recording of evidence but not for allowing a litigant to argue his case.
The Calcutta HC's landmark move came on Dr
Saha's plea in which he urged the court to either fast-track the case towrap up his arguments during his stay in India or permit him to oppose the two doctors' application from his home in Hillard, Ohio, in the US.
HC deemed it fit to allow his plea for fighting the case through "live videoconferencing", brushing aside objections by the West Bengal Medical
Council that insisted Dr Saha be present in person to fight the case or not be heard at all.