Air pollution: CJI advises lawyers, litigants to use video conferencing to virtually appear before SC

As Delhi-NCR continues to battle poor or very poor air quality for weeks, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Sunday advised lawyers and litigants to use video-conferencing facilities to virtually appear before the Supreme Court in their cases.

“In view of the prevailing weather conditions, the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India has advised, if convenient, the Members of the Bar/Parties-in-Person to avail hybrid mode of appearance through video conferencing facility in their matters listed before the Hon’ble Courts,” the Supreme Court announced late Sunday evening.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) AQI bulletin released on December 14 at 4 PM, Delhi recorded an average AQI of 461in the last 24 hours. As per CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.

On November 26, the CJI had said he felt unwell when he went out for a walk.

“The only exercise I do is walking. But even that is difficult now. Yesterday, I walked for 55 minutes, and till morning I had problems,” the CJI had said during hearing on petitions challenging Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, and other states/UTs.

Presently, the top court functions in hybrid mode conducting its proceedings through both physical and virtual modes.

Earlier, Justice PS Narasimha of the Supreme Court had on November 13 advised lawyers to appear virtually instead of attending court in person, saying severe air pollution could cause permanent damage to their health. “Situation is very-very serious! Why are you all appearing here? We have a virtual hearing facility. Please avail it. This pollution will cause permanent damage…,” Justice Narasimha had said.