Unique Initiative by DC Mohali; Introduces Online Hearing for Senior Citizens in Maintenance Cases

S.A.S. Nagar : In continuation of ease of services’ efforts of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab government, Deputy Commissioner, Aashika Jain has taken a worth emulating initiative to introduce online hearing procedure in Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 appeal cases.
A ‘trial run’ has been conducted at the District Administrative Complex to facilitate online appearance in the court for senior citizens and their counsels that remained successful, said the Deputy Commissioner -cum-Presiding Officer, Appellate Tribunal, Aashika Jain.
Deputy Commissioner Mrs Jain said that due to overage problems and physical weakness, it was felt that the Senior Citizens were facing many problems to appear in person regarding their hearing of appeals.
In view of this, she decided to work out on a phenomena in which the senior citizens and their counsels need not to appear in person rather online by mobile or any other video conferencing medium.
She said that under this, the date of appearance and the online link will be sent to the registered mobile number of the elderly people and their counsels. On the day of appearance, the concerned senior citizen and his/her counsel can attend the hearing procedure from any place by clicking on that link.
The Deputy Commissioner said that a ‘trial run’ was also conducted in this regard at the District Administrative Complex. Accordingly, she herself sat in his own court and the seniors related to an appeal case and their lawyer sat in another room of the district administration complex and they made their appearance online.
This ‘trial run’ of the online appearance was found successful. Soon, it will be formally launched for all the cases related to Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 appeal cases.
During the online ‘trial run’, advocate Kanchanjit Singh Bath, who appeared for one side, praised this initiative and said that with this facility, while the elderly will not face physical problems related to travel, their time and money will also be saved a lot.
There will be savings. Along with this, lawyers can also be a part of the court process from any place thanks to this facility, which will save them a lot of time. He said that this facility should be used as much as possible.