Joining a Virtual Hearing Before a CAT Bench: Practical Steps

Can you really appear before CAT by video?

Yes. The virtual hearing in CAT began during the pandemic and has continued as a hybrid hearing system, where the bench sits in the courtroom and anyone may join the same item from a laptop or phone. The push became firmer after the Supreme Court's judgment of 6 October 2023 in Sarvesh Mathur v. Registrar General, High Court of Punjab and Haryana, which treated access to video hearings as part of access to justice. After that, several CAT benches issued fresh notices setting out how lawyers and parties in person could join.

The tribunal is not bound by the Code of Civil Procedure. Section 22 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 lets it regulate its own procedure within the limits of natural justice, which is why each bench writes its own working rules for video hearings. One bench may print the link in the daily cause list. Another may ask you to email the registry by a fixed hour and then send a password to your registered mobile. A third may allow video only for some courts or some kinds of matters on certain days.

So the honest answer to 'can I join online' is yes, subject to your bench's notice. Look for it under notices or circulars for your bench on cgat.gov.in, and also check the notice board and the court master's instructions if you visit once. A CAT circular of 21 October 2026 on uniform filing and listing practice, as reported in the press, also speaks of online mentioning; ask your bench registry how far it has been put into effect there.

Where does the hearing link come from?

The hearing link is tied to a court, not to your case. Each court hall at a bench usually has its own video room, and every item listed in that court on that day is heard in the same room. That is why the link appears against the court number in the cause list, or is sent by the registry once you say which item you are in. If your matter moves from Court 2 to Court 3 because a member is on leave, the link changes too.

Three routes are common. Some benches publish the meeting link, and sometimes the meeting ID and password, with the cause list on the website. Some print only the meeting ID and send the password to registered emails and mobiles on request. Some ask the advocate on record to send the request, so a party who has an advocate should not write separately unless told to.

If you are appearing in person, your email and mobile must be on the tribunal's record. Usually this is the contact given in your OA or in a memo of appearance. If you have changed your phone number since filing, file a short memo with the registry giving the new number, and keep a copy with the receiving stamp or the acknowledgment email.

Do not take a link from a WhatsApp group of colleagues or an old hearing. Old links sometimes still open into a meeting that nobody is using, and you will sit in an empty room while your item is called and passed over in the real one.

Joining a virtual hearing in CAT: the steps from listing to the end of your item

These steps assume you are appearing in person. If an advocate is appearing for you, steps 1, 2 and 9 still apply to you, and the rest are worth knowing so you can watch without disturbing the hearing.

1. Confirm the listing

   Check the cause list on the CAT website the evening before, using your OA number and your bench. Note the court number, the item number and whether the matter is listed for admission, for orders, for hearing or under some other head. If your case is missing, call the registry next morning before 10 a.m.; do not assume it has been adjourned.

2. Read the bench notice on hybrid hearings

   Open the most recent notice from your bench and read the fine print: the email address for requests, the time by which requests must reach, and whether the link is in the cause list. Benches revise these notices, so a notice from 2023 may have been replaced. Save a copy on your phone.

3. Send your request in the format asked for

   Write a short email with the date of hearing, court number, item number, OA number, your full name, your side (applicant or respondent), and your mobile number. Send it as early as the notice allows, and well before any morning cut-off. Keep the subject line plain, such as 'VC request, Court 2, Item 17, OA 340/2026'.

4. Prepare the device the night before

   Charge the phone or laptop fully, install or update the video app named by the bench, and test your camera and microphone in a test call with a family member. Clear storage space if the phone is full; video apps crash on phones with almost no memory left. Keep a charger and a power bank within reach.

5. Join early and set your display name

   Join at least 20 to 30 minutes before the court starts. Change your display name to something like 'Item 17, OA 340/2026, Suresh Pal, applicant in person'. If the bench uses a lobby or waiting room, you will be admitted only when the court master recognises the item from that name.

6. Wait muted and watch the board

   Keep your microphone muted and your camera off unless the bench notice asks otherwise. Watch which item is going on. Most benches move through the list in order, but a board can jump when items are passed over or taken out of turn, so do not leave to make tea when your item is a few numbers away.

7. Speak when your item is called

   When the court master calls your item, switch on the camera, unmute, and say your name and that you are the applicant in person. Wait for the bench to ask you to speak. Answer the question asked, keep to your main point and offer to send a short note if the bench wants more detail.

8. Stay until the order is dictated

   Do not leave the moment the bench stops speaking to you. The order is often dictated after the arguments, and the bench may ask whether you need a date or a copy. Leave only when the next item is called.

9. Note the result and check it later

   Write down what you heard: next date, what the department must file, any direction to you. Then check the order sheet or daily order uploaded on the CAT website over the next few days, because what you heard on a weak connection may not match the written order exactly.

If your bench does not run video for a particular court on a particular day, the notice will usually say so. In that case, your advocate, if you have one, appears in person, or you ask the registry whether the matter can be taken up through video on a later date.

How a hearing day usually runs, and what it costs

Phone or laptop, and where to sit

A laptop with a wired or steady Wi-Fi connection is the safest choice. A phone works, and many retirees appear from a phone without trouble, but a phone is also how calls, low battery warnings and app updates interrupt you at the wrong time. If you must use a phone, put it on a stand at eye level, switch on flight mode and then turn Wi-Fi back on if you have broadband at home, so ordinary calls do not cut into the video.

Some bench notices ask parties in person to keep a phone available for tele-calls from the registry if the video link fails. If that is your bench's rule, use a second phone for that purpose and keep it on silent at a distance from the laptop, so its sounds do not reach the microphone.

Choose a closed room. A shared veranda or a busy shop counter will put your neighbours' voices on the court's speakers. Sit with the light in front of you, not behind; a window behind you turns your face into a dark shape. A plain wall is better than a bed or a wardrobe. You do not need a fancy background, and the virtual backgrounds that blur at the edges are best avoided.

Join from a fixed place. Several courts have refused to hear people who join from a moving car or a railway platform, and a bench is entitled to take that view. If you are travelling on the hearing day, ask for a different date in advance rather than joining from a bus.

Keep these ready on your desk before your item is called

• The cause list page with your court and item number circled
• Your OA paper book or at least the index, with page numbers you may need to point to
• The impugned order and the last representation you made, each with its annexure number
• The department's reply, if it has been filed, and your rejoinder
• Any interim order passed in the case so far
• A one-page note of the three or four points you want to make, in the order you will make them
• A pen and paper to note the next date and directions
• The registry's phone number and email address from the bench notice
• Your phone with the registered mobile number, charged and on silent

Online hearing etiquette that the bench notices

Online hearing etiquette is mostly the courtroom manners you would show in person, with a few rules that only a screen creates. Mute is the first. An open microphone in a small room picks up fans, pressure cookers and television, and the court master will mute or remove a participant who keeps causing noise. Unmute only when your item is called or the bench speaks to you.

Dress as you would for a government office meeting. Lawyers appear in their bands and coats; a party in person should wear plain, clean clothes. Sit upright on a chair, not on a bed. Look at the camera when you speak, not at your own image.

Address the bench as Sir or Madam, or as Your Lordship if that is what you are used to. Let the member finish the question before you answer. Do not argue with the department's counsel on screen; speak to the bench. If the bench says it has your point, stop.

Recording, screenshots and broadcasting of the hearing are prohibited under the bench notices we have seen, and a recording posted on social media can lead to contempt proceedings. If you need a record of what happened, the daily order is that record. Keep your camera off while waiting, and do not use the chat box to send messages to the court master unless the notice permits it.

Advocate B.K. Singh's two practical tips for video appearances

• Put your three page references on a sticky note at the edge of the screen. Advocate B.K. Singh finds that people appearing by video lose time hunting through a paper book while the bench waits. Write the page numbers of the impugned order, your representation and the key rule on a slip stuck beside the camera, and you can answer 'where is that?' in five seconds.
• Send a two-line email to the registry the moment a connection fails on your item. In his experience, a member who sees that you tried to join is far more willing to restore a matter or give a short date than one who sees nothing on record. Note the time, item number and what went wrong, and keep a screenshot of the error screen on your own phone (not of the hearing itself).

Which bench hears you, and does video change it?

Joining by video does not change which bench your case belongs to. The OA is filed at the bench having territorial jurisdiction under the CAT (Procedure) Rules, usually where you are posted or where the cause of action arose, and a retiree may generally file where he or she lives after retirement. Video only changes how you reach that bench. A Lucknow Bench matter stays a Lucknow Bench matter even if you join from Bengaluru.

This matters because some people try to use video as a reason to move a case. A transfer between benches is a separate thing under Section 25 of the Act, decided by the Chairman, and is not granted simply because one bench offers better video facilities. If your real problem is distance, video appearance is usually the cheaper answer.

Circuit sittings are a different matter. Several benches hold sittings at other cities for a few days at a time, such as the Principal Bench's sittings at Nainital for Uttarakhand cases or the Patna Bench's sittings at Ranchi. If your item is listed in a circuit sitting, check whether that sitting offers a video link at all; some circuit sittings are physical only because of the room and equipment available.

For cases at the Principal Bench in New Delhi, where the number of courts and items is large, our page on service cases at the Principal Bench explains how matters are listed and what the territory covers.

What commonly goes wrong in a video conference hearing

• Wrong name on screen. A display name such as 'Redmi Note' or a child's nickname leaves you in the lobby while your item is called.
• Link requested too late. Benches that work on email requests may not process one that arrives after the cut-off, and the password never comes.
• Old app version. The app asks for an update just as you try to join, and the download takes ten minutes on a weak network.
• Echo from two devices. Joining on a laptop and a phone in the same room creates a loud whistle on the court's speakers; use one device to join.
• Leaving before the order. People drop off as soon as they finish speaking and miss the bench asking them a final question or giving a date.
• Speaking out of turn. Unmuting to correct the department's counsel while the bench is speaking annoys the member and rarely helps the point.
• Not checking the written order. A broken audio line can make 'four weeks' sound like 'two weeks'; only the uploaded order counts.

If the connection fails on your item

Rejoin at once if you can. If the meeting will not open, call the registry number given in the bench notice and tell the court staff your item number. Then send an email the same day giving the time you tried to join, what happened and your request that the matter be relisted. This written trail is what helps later.

If the bench passed the item over and came back to it while you were still out, the order may record 'none for the applicant'. At admission or for a first default, many benches simply adjourn. If the OA itself was dismissed for default, you can apply for restoration. Rule 15 of the CAT (Procedure) Rules, 1987 deals with this and the usual period is 30 days from the order, so do not wait. Our guide on restoring an OA dismissed for non-appearance sets out what to put in that application.

Keep the evidence of your attempt: the email to the registry, a screenshot of the error message on your own device, and your internet provider's outage message if there was one. A restoration application that says 'I tried, here is what I sent at 11.12 a.m.' is far stronger than one that explains everything afterwards from memory.

If failures keep happening at your end, think about appearing physically for the important dates or asking an advocate to appear for those dates while you watch. The cost of one trip is small compared with a case that keeps getting adjourned for reasons on your side.

Is a hybrid hearing enough for a final hearing?

For admission, short adjournments and directions, a video appearance is usually fine. For a final hearing on a disciplinary penalty, a seniority dispute with many private respondents, or a pension case with a long service history, think harder. The bench may want to turn to pages in the paper book quickly, the department's counsel may hand over documents in court, and a weak connection can cut a 20-minute argument into pieces.

If you have an advocate, the common practice is that the advocate attends the final hearing in court while you, the client, watch by video if the bench allows observers, or simply wait for a call. If you are appearing in person in a final hearing, prepare a short note of your points and send it to the registry and to the department's counsel in advance if the bench permits written submissions. Our guide on final hearing notes in two pages shows how to build one.

Urgent matters are different again. If you need a stay of a transfer, a recovery or a relieving order the same week, the matter usually has to be mentioned before it can be heard, and some benches now allow online mentioning. The guide on urgent mentioning before the tribunal covers that separately.

If you are weighing whether to keep appearing in person at all, our page on help for an applicant arguing their own OA explains where a lawyer's briefing still makes a difference, even if you do the speaking.

Watching your own case while your advocate argues it

Many clients want to watch, and the hybrid system makes that possible at most benches. Ask your advocate first whether the bench allows observers and whether you should join under your own name or simply keep the camera and microphone off. Some court masters admit only the advocates and parties in the items listed; an unknown name in the lobby may stay there.

Once inside, do not unmute to add a point, even if the department's counsel says something you know to be wrong. Send your advocate a message on the phone instead, and let him or her decide whether to raise it. A party who interrupts their own lawyer on screen creates confusion, and the bench may record that the party was heard in person, which is not what you want.

If your CAT lawyer is in another city from the bench, as often happens when a client in Bhopal briefs a lawyer in Delhi for a Jabalpur Bench matter, the advocate may appear entirely by video. That is normal now. What matters is that the advocate has the full paper book, the reply and the rejoinder, and that you have both agreed on the points to press. Our guide on briefing a lawyer online from another state explains how that working relationship runs.

Different situations: retirees, railway and postal staff, candidates

Retirees and family pensioners are the people who gain most from a hybrid hearing, because travel to a bench city for a two-minute admission item can cost a day and several thousand rupees. If you are not comfortable with apps, ask a grandchild or neighbour to sit with you for the first hearing and practise once the day before. Keep your PPO number and the pension order next to you; the bench often asks for the date of retirement and the amount in dispute.

Railway and postal staff in service often appear from their workplace. Do not join from a booking counter, a sorting hall or a running room. Take an hour's leave for the hearing, sit in a quiet office if your controlling officer allows it, and keep in mind that your seniors may be the respondents in the case. A Group C employee who appears in person against the department should keep the tone plain and factual.

Defence civilian employees in MES units, ordnance establishments and depots sometimes work in places where phones are restricted. Check your unit's rules on carrying devices before you plan to join from the workplace, and join from home if needed.

Job candidates in recruitment disputes are often young and comfortable with video, but they make a different mistake: they treat the hearing like a video call with friends. The bench will be deciding whether your rejection by SSC, RRB or UPSC was lawful. Sit up, keep your admit card, result notice and rejection letter at hand, and speak only about the point the bench asks.

What to do this week if your case is listed soon

Before your next virtual hearing in CAT, find your bench's latest notice on hybrid hearings and save it. Check that the registry has your current email and mobile number; if not, file a memo updating them. Install or update the video app the bench uses, and run a test call with someone at home.

Make your one-page note of points with page numbers. If the department has filed a reply you have not answered, ask whether a rejoinder is still allowed, because the hearing may otherwise go ahead on the department's version alone. If the case is being adjourned again and again, our guide on adjournments and costs in tribunal cases explains what you can ask for.

If you would like an advocate to appear by video or in person for the important dates, or to look at your papers before you argue yourself, our central administrative tribunal lawyer page sets out the kinds of OA we handle across benches. For questions about your own case papers or updates on how your bench is running video hearings, contact Advocate B.K. Singh.