SC to seal lawyers' chambers, only to hear urgent matters via video-conferencing

Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 23

The Supreme Court Administration ordered the sealing of lawyers’ chambers in the court from 5 pm on Tuesday.

It will not allow in-person hearings in the court till further orders and till then urgent matters would take place via videoconferencing.

Videoconferencing can be done by lawyers sitting in their own offices.

The top court has also indefinitely extended the limitation period for filing appeals arising out of orders of high courts or tribunals.

After this decision, no appeal filed before the Supreme Court shall be time-barred during the coronavirus shutdown that has affected badly the functioning of the top court.

The Supreme Court on Monday cancelled entry into the court premises through proximity cards.

Only lawyers certified by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) will be allowed into court premises for hearing through videoconferencing, said Chief Justice of India SA Bobde.

SCBA President Dave requested the CJI to shut down the top court for four weeks.

Regarding restricted entry, Dave said, “We will need to provide sanitisation for the SCBA office staff who will have to come in.”

The CJI suggested that the Supreme Court lawyers should also shut down their chambers.

He said SC benches will not be sitting in the court premises and the court staff can’t come in for cleaning the chambers.

“There is no need for any lawyers to come to chambers,” the CJI said.

However, Dave said clients were putting pressure on advocates for hearings.

“People are extremely frustrated today. If the court can close for four weeks we can work during the regular June vacations,” the SCBA President said.

Amid reports of further spread of the coronavirus pandemic and a lockdown in several states, the Supreme Court Advocate-on-Record Association (SCORA) has declared that its members will not appear in the top court till April 4.

Unlike in other courts, all cases in the Supreme Court have to be mandatorily filed only through an advocate-on-record.

SCORA passed a resolution on Sunday requesting Chief Justice of India SA Bobde to completely shut down the court’s operations. This is the second such resolution passed by SCORA in as many days.

In a resolution passed on Saturday, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Executive Committee too had requested the top court to consider adjusting the lost working days against the scheduled summer vacation slated to begin in mid-May.

A Full Court meeting of the Supreme Court judges is likely to be held on Monday to consider a demand for shutting down the court for four weeks to contain the pandemic.

Since March 16, the Supreme Court has been functioning in a restricted manner and only a limited number of Benches are assembling to take up urgent matters.

On Sunday, the Supreme Court decided to further restrict it’s functioning and take up only urgent matters via video conferencing.

“Hon’ble   the   Chief   Justice   of   India   has,   after consulting  his  colleagues,  directed  that  during  the course  of  the  ensuing  week,  a    Bench  of  two  Hon’ble Judges, as  may  be  necessary  to hear extremely  urgent cases,  will  be  available  to  transact  judicial  work,” Supreme Court Secretary General Sanjeev  S Kalgaonkar announced.

“A Bench  will  be  available  for  court  work  on  Wednesday, 25  March,  2020  and  the  Cause  list  will  be  notifed  on the  day previous  to  the  hearing,” the announcement read.

The  hearing may be conducted through video  conferencing.  Rooms with requisite   facilities for   this   purpose   in   the Supreme  Court premises  are  being  made  available  for the   convenience   of   the members   of   the   Bar, it further stated.

Advocates on  record and parties  in  person should indicate the  extreme  urgency  of  the  matter  in  writing which  will  be  listed  at  the discretion  of the presiding Judge, Kalgaonkar said.

Only one bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde will assemble on Monday. The top court has cancelled sitting of three other Benches on March 23.