1. In accordance with the Court of Appeal (Electronic Filing and Urgent Digital Virtual Hearings) (Special Provisions) Rules, 2021 published in the Extraordinary Gazette 2216/08 dated 23rd February 2021, the Court of Appeal will conduct digital virtual hearing for the cases mentioned below via Zoom platform as a precautionary measure relating to the COVID19 pandemic. (Rules can be accessed at: http://documents.gov.lk/files/egz/2021/2/2216-08_E.pdf).
2. The Court of Appeal has been holding its sittings open court only to hear a limited number of ‘urgent matters’ and to deliver judgements in certain cases due to the travel restrictions imposed since 03rd May 2021. Although the travel restrictions have been currently lifted, the Court will continue to entertain only a limited number of cases designated as urgent, in Open Court, in view of the guidelines issued by the Director General of Health Services.
3. However, taking into account the amount of cases which are due to be re-fixed on fresh dates for several steps, the Court of Appeal, as an interim measure, will conduct digital virtual hearing as prescribed below in respect of the below mentioned cases, in order to ensure the effective functioning of the Court
   1. all the cases which were fixed to be taken up on 3rd May 2021 before all the Divisions of the Court of Appeal will be mentioned on 29th June 2021 via Zoom.
   2. those cases will be mentioned before the respective Division and will be refixed for an appropriate step on a suitable date
   3. (permission to allow an application other than for purpose of re-fixing a matter shall be at the discretion of the presiding Judge
   4. a daily list of all such cases, separated according to the relevant Court as per CA Notice No. 21/2021 and the scheduled time shall be published in the website of the Court of Appeal in due course along with the relevant Zoom link to each Court
4. No person, other than the Justices, accredited staff and other permitted persons is authorized to enter the relevant Court Room while the digital hearing is in session.
5. Relevant Attorneys at Law/parties to the case are required to join the hearing at least 30 minutes prior to the allocated commencement time of the respective Court’s Session. Please note that, once the Court is in session the administrator will not admit any Attorney-at-Law or any other person.
6. Upon joining Zoom virtual sitting each Attorney-at-Law/person shall mark their appearance by submitting the following details to the stenographer who shall be the administrator for each session:
   • Case No
   • Representing party
   • Appearance of the Attorney-at-Law/Person
7. The aforesaid Court of Appeal (Electronic Filing and Urgent Digital Virtual Hearings) (Special Provisions) rules will be applied to all the digital hearings and accordingly all parties are directed to strictly adhere such rules and also to maintain proper decorum at all times.
8. During a digital virtual hearing all parties to the case shall keep the mic muted until their respective case is being taken up. Once their respective case is over, they may leave the Zoom session.
9. Attorneys-at-Law/ parties who appear in person are further requested to extend their fullest support and co-operation to the Court staff, who may wish to verify the identity of the Attorney/ party, and/or to make any other directive or request for the better facilitation of the digital virtual hearing.
10. Attorneys-at-Law are advised to be ready in advance with the dates convenient to the respective Counsel.
11. After evaluating the effectiveness and the feasibility of the virtual proceedings on 29th June 2021, the cases which were fixed from 4th May to 25th June 2021 will also be taken up in a similar manner and the relevant dates for such digital hearings will also be published in due course.

By Order of the Hon. President of the Court of Appeal

ACTING REGISTRAR OF THE COURT OF APPEAL

On this 26 th day of June, 2021