Physical hearing in SC should commence forthwith: Apex court bar body

By PTI

NNEW DELHI: Barring one member, the Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in a meeting on Monday resolved that the physical hearing should commence in the top court forthwith, noting that hybrid hearing has been a “non-starter”.

“The Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association in its meeting held on September 27 has unanimously resolved, barring one member namely Nina Gupta, Executive Member, that the physical hearing in the Supreme Court should commence forthwith,” the resolution stated.

SCBA President Vikas Singh also stated that the manner in which hybrid hearing commenced has been a non-starter because “firstly the virtual option is given to lawyers who find the same convenient and the lawyers who want to come to enter the physical hearing find the SOP with regard to entry in the Supreme Court building completely unjustified and humiliating.”

The resolution came a day after Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana said that physical hearing of the cases may hopefully resume after Dussehra’s vacation.

The apex court is hearing the cases virtually since the outset of the pandemic.

Singh further said the proximity card or association’s identity card should be sufficient for any of the members to enter the Supreme Court building which has been recently renamed as High-Security Zone.

“The aforesaid Supreme Court building is the work abode of the Supreme Court Lawyers and access to the same is being denied which amounts to a clear infringement to our fundamental rights,” he emphasized.

On September 22, the bar association had written to the CJI saying that the system of issuing special passes for the high-security area in the apex court premises be dispensed within the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the Secretary-General on August 28, this year.

The Executive Committee also resolved that certain categories of matters especially those concerning the CJI’s roster are not being listed for hearing for months in spite of repeated mentioning by the lawyers.

“All such matters pending for listing including all applications for vacating stay orders should be listed at the earliest on priority basis,” the SCBA president stated.