In the wake of Coronavirus Lockdown, the Ministry of Finance, on Friday issued a notification seeking to implement the online hearing of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) through video conferencing.
With the outbreak of COVID-19, social distancing became the need of an hour but to as to curb in the hindrances in the working of Debt Recovery Tribuna (DRT) and Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DBAT), the concept of e-DRT project was introduced with the support of National Informatics Centre (NIC).
At the initial stage thee-DRT project was implemented on 5 DRTs in cities namely Delhi, Kolkata, Dehradun, Chennai, and Mumbai.
The Ministry of Finance requested the Registrars of the DRTs to ensure the availability of IT Infrastructure including laptop with camera, internet, cable, speaker, headphone, with mike, etc.; identification of urgent cases pending before it; finalize modalities for creating cause list for matters to be heard through video conferencing; scheduling video conferencing meetings and sharing links with POs and parties; and generating order sheets and uploading them one-DRT as the prerequisites for hearing the case through video conferencing.
The notification directed the registrars to function as Nodal officers for the purpose of conducting hearing through video conferencing and their respective technical associates will provide support and interface with NIC to ensure smooth hearings.
The registrars have to shoulder the responsibility of ensuring the overall co-ordination within their jurisdiction as required along with other arrangements.
