The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would hear after four weeks a plea which has sought resumption of physical hearing of cases alongside the ongoing video-conferencing mode in all courts and tribunals across the country.
A bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said that it would keep the matter pending as e-committee of the apex court is “deciding something”. “We will keep this pending. Our e-committee is deciding something. We will circulate it to you as well,” the bench told advocate M L Sharma, who has filed the petition.
At the outset, Sharma said that “so many tussles are going on” on the issue of resumption of physical hearing, “We are not worried about the tussles”, the bench said.
Registry
During the hearing conducted through video-conferencing, Sharma said, “We are at the mercy of registry (of the apex court). We have to run behind them”.
The top court has been hearing cases through video-conferencing since March last year due to the pandemic and several bar bodies and lawyers have been demanding that physical hearings should resume immediately.
Also read: Justice delivery over video
The top court would commence hybrid physical hearing from March 15 and it had recently issued the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the purpose.
Bar Association upset
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had Monday moved the apex court seeking the quashing of the SOP, saying it has been framed without consulting the Bar, an equal stakeholder in justice delivery system.
Besides seeking quashing of the SOP, the plea, filed by SCBA and its Treasurer Meenesh Kumar Dubey, has sought a direction to the apex court's Registry not to issue “any circular without consulting the Bar”.
Also read: Supreme Court to commence physical hearing of cases in limited manner, issues SOP
“On an experimental basis, and as a pilot scheme, the final hearings/regular matters listed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays may be heard in the hybrid mode, as may be decided by the bench, considering the number of parties in a matter as well as the limited capacity of the courtrooms; all other matters, including those listed on Mondays and Fridays, shall continue to be heard through video/tele-conferencing mode,” said the SOP issued by the apex court.
In his plea, Sharma has sought a hybrid mode of hearing, in which the litigants and the lawyers would be free to choose the mode of hearing.
“Be further pleased to issue proper writ direction to the state to provide/arrange video systems for judicial proceedings all over India in the interest of justice,” Sharma has said in his plea.
The plea has said that paperless e-filing of judicial records and hearing through video-conferencing would save lives as papers have been found to be carriers of the Covid-19 virus.
“Several registrars and staffers of this court and judges suffered from Covid-19 due to handling of paper books. Several litigants have been facing threats of getting the infection while visiting court premises...,” the plea has said.