Supreme Court Bar Association urges CJI to resume physical hearings in apex court

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LE Desk

New Delhi, July 8, 2021: The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has once again written a letter to Chief Justice of India N V Ramana and requested him to start the physical functioning of the top court following strict compliance with Covid protocols.

SCBA President and senior Supreme Court lawyer Vikas Singh has written the letter requesting the CJI for resuming the physical functioning of the court in compliance with Covid appropriate behaviour, saying the current Covid situation is normal and there is a dip in the number of cases in Delhi.

In the letter to the CJI, the SCBA said the Bar has duly undertaken a vaccination program on war footing for lawyers aged below 45 years and lawyers above 45 years of age have already been getting vaccinated since March 2021.

“The Executive Committee of the SCBA has already taken proactive steps to vaccinate all our members, clerks, staff as well as family members including the domestic help of the lawyers and the said vaccination is still continuing,” the SCBA said.

“The way forward in today’s scenario would be to start the court with normal functioning by observing the Covid appropriate behaviour so that the court functioning does not in any manner increase the Covid impact even if a third wave were to come,” the SCBA said.

The SCBA has suggested that slots of 45 minutes each should be assigned for miscellaneous/final disposal matters and thereafter three slots of 1 hour each should be assigned for two final hearing matters in each slot so that around 6 final hearing matters can be taken up for hearing.

To avoid overcrowding in the courtroom, media persons should not be allowed inside the courtroom and should only be allowed to watch the proceedings by virtual mode, the letter said.

“Even litigants should not be allowed to enter the courtroom as we do not know their vaccination status, and they should only watch the court proceedings through virtual mode. That the proximity cards/long term passes shall not be kept under suspension and the lawyers may be allowed to access the libraries and lounges in the High-Security Zone. The same can be monitored by the SCBA in its wisdom ensuring that no overcrowding takes place in the High-Security Zone,” the SCBA said.

“If we continue to function with Covid appropriate behaviour even with the advent of the third wave, our premises cannot be a place which will aggravate the spread of Covid as almost all our stakeholders have had their first dose of vaccine and majority have taken both the shots,” the letter said.

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