Delhi High Court Imposes Rs 10,000 Costs On Advocate: a garden walk and a weak connection during a virtual arbitration hearing breached the Court’s Electronic Evidence and Video Conferencing Rules, 2025.
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New Delhi: Counsel for the petitioner in an arbitration petition must pay costs of Rs 10,000 and appear in person on the next date, the Delhi High Court directed on Friday (October 9), after the lawyer joined the hearing virtually while walking in a garden, with a poor connection.
Justice Om Prakash Shukla held that the counsel’s conduct violated the Court’s Electronic Evidence and Video Conferencing Rules, 2025.
Last month’s Rs 1 lakh order
This is not the first such order from Justice Shukla. Last month he fined a lawyer Rs 1 lakh for joining a virtual hearing from a moving car, observing that the convenience of virtual proceedings cannot come at the cost of courtroom decorum or disrupt the conduct of judicial proceedings.
The order, in the Court’s words
Learned Counsel is appearing in this matter while walking in the garden and the connection is also not proper. This is in violation of the Electronic Evidence and Video Conferencing Rules, 2025 of this Court. Accordingly, costs of Rs.10,000/- is imposed on the learned counsel for the petitioner, to be deposited before the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee within a week from today.
Costs and the next date
The Rs 10,000 is to go to the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee within one week. When the matter next comes up, on November 4, the counsel must be present in person.
ALSO READ: CAT Jammu Imposes Rs 10,000 Cost On Senior Advocate For Appearing Without Uniform
Why the order matters
By attaching a monetary consequence to an improper setting and a weak connection, the order treats the Video Conferencing Rules as binding on counsel rather than as a courtesy.
Read with the earlier Rs 1 lakh order, it shows that the Bench will use costs and a direction to appear physically to enforce decorum in virtual hearings.
Matter: Arbitration petition (counsel for the petitioner directed to pay costs)
Bench: Justice Om Prakash Shukla, Delhi High Court
Date of Order: October 9, 2026
Next Date: November 4, 2026