The apex court is presently hearing matters virtually after the number of COVID-19 cases started rising in December last year due to the Omicron variant of the virus.
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Saturday requested Chief Justice of India N V Ramana that physical hearings in the apex court be reassumed to the pre-pandemic level as the COVID-19 situation is in control and stressed that 'open court hearing' is both the "convention and constitutional requirement".
In a letter addressed to the CJI, SCBA president Vikas Singh said the positivity rate in the national capital has come down to below four percent and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has decided to reopen schools, colleges and gyms here with effect from February 7.
The letter said due to the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, the apex court had started hearing matters virtually and from November 9 last year, it had commenced physical hearing on three days - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - in a week.
“The hearing in open court is both the convention and a constitutional requirement in the Supreme Court. It is, therefore, requested that physical hearing in Supreme Court be resumed forthwith as it was pre-pandemic,” said the letter, a copy of which has also been sent to the five senior-most judges of the top court.
It said pandemic in the country has been “very much in control” in the last two weeks and in Delhi and the positivity rate has come down to 3.85 percent as on date. The letter said that offices are now allowed to function with 100 percent capacity in Delhi and school for nursery to class 8th will reopen from February 14.
“In these circumstances, there is no justification to not open the Supreme Court for full physical hearing on all five days forthwith,” it said.
The SCBA president has said in the letter that as has been demonstrated in the earlier phase of physical hearing in the apex court in November and December 2021, the lawyers will continue wearing masks and abide by the COVID protocol as long as the same is in place.
Singh has also referred to his January 6 letter addressed to the CJI in which he had raised concerns over the non-consideration of several urgent pending issues of the bar. The letter said on January 18, a meeting was convened between the five senior-most judges of the apex court and the SCBA’s executive committee (EC) to discuss the issue of muting or unmuting lawyers during a virtual hearing.
It said other issues of the bar, as mentioned in the previous letter, were kept in abeyance with an assurance that those issues would be taken up immediately when the situation would become better.
Singh said that based on the assurance, the unanimous decision of the SCBA EC to hold a candle march raising grievances of the bar was kept in abeyance.
“Till date, we have not heard anything from your good offices with regard to those long pending issues. If any of our demands is unjustified, then we may be told so and we would not insist upon the same but please do not force us to take the agitational path by keeping our legitimate demands pending,” the letter said.
It requested the CJI that all the issues of the bar be considered immediately and full physical hearing be resumed as early as possible.
The SCBA had on January 8 said it will hold a candle march at the Rajpath here to raise several grievances, including non-consideration of its members’ names for elevation as judges in various high courts.
With inputs from PTI.