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SC to resume full physical hearings from April 4: CJI
At present, the Supreme Court is hearing matters through video-conferencing on Monday and Friday while physical hearings take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The Supreme Court will restart full physical hearings from April 4, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said on Wednesday, addressing a gathering of lawyers in the court seeking a hearing of their cases.
“We will go back to full physical hearing from Monday onwards. Some senior lawyers have requested virtual hearing links for Monday and Friday. We will provide links if lawyers want,” justice Ramana said as soon as the bench, which also included justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, commenced its business for the day.
Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Vikas Singh, who was present in the court, thanked the CJI on behalf of the Bar.
The Supreme Court is currently hearing matters through video-conferencing on Monday and Friday while physical hearings take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The court’s normal functioning was interrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Physical hearings started on October 21, 2021 but were shut down again because of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. After a significant decline in cases, the top court reverted to physical hearing of cases on Wednesdays and Thursdays from February 14.
The different modes of conducting proceedings have been putting the Supreme Court administration in a fix of late. With the lawyer community divided between the physical and hybrid mode of hearing, the top court administration was called upon to take a decision on complete re-opening of courts.
SCBA president Singh has persisted with his demands for a full physical hearings in view of the sharp decline in Covid-19 cases and in the interest of junior lawyers, who he said, were financially affected due to virtual filing and doing away with the human interface in various other procedures of the top court.
On the other hand, some senior lawyers have emphasised on the need to continue with the hybrid mode of functioning, arguing that “the new normal” does not only connote a progressive technological advancement of the highest court of the land, but also enables the best legal minds from across the country to appear before the court and contribute to the justice delivery system. It has also been argued that the virtual hearing mode advances the cause of access to justice and the principle of open courts, facilitating litigants and others in every part of the nation watch the proceedings of the Supreme Court.
Last week, justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul made pertinent comments on the importance of hybrid hearings and the extension of the open court system through the virtual mode.
“We have become a truly national court. Lawyers from across the country can address us and even the litigants can access the courts through virtual hearing links,” justice Chandrachud had remarked as senior advocate and parliamentarian P Wilson argued a case from Chennai.
Wilson, on his part, commended the Supreme Court for adopting virtual hearings.
Similarly, justice Kaul too underscored the acceptance of the new system while pointing out that a huge infrastructure has been built around virtual hearings and the Supreme Court would do well to continue using the system.
“Why abandon this completely when we have already put all this technology in place? When we keep talking about access to justice and open courts, we should continue with hybrid hearings. If you (lawyers) are here present in court, we will hear you. If not, we can hear you virtually. The show must go on,” said justice Kaul while hearing a lawyer arguing from Mumbai.
There is also a petition pending in the Supreme Court by a body of litigants and two eminent citizens, seeking access to justice through virtual courts as a matter of fundamental rights for the litigants. The petition has been filed by National Federation of Societies for Fast Justice along with former Central Information Commissioner (CIC) and RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Julio Ribeiro. This plea is yet to get an effective hearing in the top court.
