NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is likely to resume physical hearing in three to four weeks, the Bar Council of India said on Monday after its chairman and other bar leaders met CJI S A Bobde for commencing normal functioning of the court, disrupted for nearly a year because of Covid-19 pandemic.
The CJI met BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, SC Bar Association leader Kailash Vasdev, leaders of advocates‘ on record association and former SCBA president Vikas Singh to chalk out the modalities and standard operating procedure for commencing physical and hybrid system of hearing.
“From today’s meeting, it is clear that physical hearings are going to start in the Supreme Court within three to four weeks,” Mishra said in a press release.
Mishra said he conveyed to the CJI that the virtual hearing through video-conferencing mode is unacceptable to advocates and said that there could be no substitute for physical hearings in courts.
The SG had suggested easing the difficulties faced by advocates in getting petitions listed for hearing by assigning mentioning work to one or two judges.
This was supported by the BCI chairperson. The CJI said he would consult other judges on this score.
On resumption of the physical hearing, the CJI said that he would consult medical experts, assess available infrastructure and availability of staff before taking a decision on full-scale resumption of physical hearing.
The BCI chairperson said the CJI requested him to “coordinate with the senior advocates and other bar associations of the country to make them agreeable to physical hearing.
The pandemic had seriously affected the open court functioning as six SC judges and nearly half of the staff in SC were infected by coronavirus. However, it continued to dispose of a large number of cases through video-conferencing, which was seen favouring the senior advocates more.
The bar leaders would meet secretary-general of the SC, Sanjeev S Kalgaonkar, on Wednesday to discuss and finalise the SOP for physical hearing.
Meanwhile, senior advocate Vikas Singh had called for staging protest by advocates within the SC premises for the resumption of physical hearing. Scores of advocates were seen holding placards demanding a physical hearing.
Singh said the CJI suggested hybrid mode of hearing for which infrastructure would be upgraded by the SC. “I on behalf of the members of the bar insisted on an immediate resumption of full physical hearing. The CJI did not agree and hence we decided to continue our protest till our demand is met,” he said, adding that he would not agree to the hybrid mode of hearing without immediate resumption of physical hearing.