The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the petitioners to approach the Delhi High Court for disposal of their grievances against the resumption of physical Hearings by the High Court amid the COVID pandemic.
A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna & V Ramasubramanian heard the matter through video conferencing.
During the hearing today, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal submitted that the Registrar General of the High Court has called for a discussion today evening and seeks adjournment.
On this CJI said you should withdraw the petition. We trust that the Chief Justice of Delhi will do the needful, said the CJI.
We also want to get back to the action we used to. But we want to ask the health authorities before that. We are not going to take the opinion of advocates on a health thing, CJI said.
The Court was hearing the plea filed by Kartik Nayar and Others challenging notification dated 14.01.2021,and roster of physically sitting Judges dated 14.01.2021 along with roster of physically sitting Joint Registrars dated 15.01.2021 issued by the High Court of Delhi without allowing the advocates to choose to appear through virtual mode thereby compelling the advocates to appear in person.
The petition was filed by practising advocates and esteemed members of the Bar, who have been appearing before the High Court of Delhi and District Courts through virtual mode of hearing on a daily basis, due to the ongoing unprecedented pandemic.
The petitioners had argued that the notification has been issued without any concerns as to the health, life and well-being of the advocates, in the interest of society. It had argued that the earlier hybrid system of optional virtual and physical hearing, was accommodating as it catered to the needs of the advocates who preferred to appear in person for their respective matters due to not being able to access proper internet connectivity and at the same time allowed the advocates such as the Petitioners, inclusive of several other advocates, suffering from co- morbidities and/or having someone in their family having major health concerns, appear virtually.
The petitioner had contended that more than 500 lawyers have signed on a digital form being in favour of continuing with virtual hearing and opposed the notification.
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Hence, the petitioners had urged the Court to issue directions to the High Court of Delhi to set aside the impugned notification and allow the advocates to choose and accordingly appear through virtual mode of hearing.