The Supreme Court has informed that three of its bigger courtrooms are being prepared for hosting physical hearing of cases on a trial basis.
The courtrooms are being refurbished in compliance with physical distancing norms and medical advice. They would be ready in a week.
The hearings would be held in a limited number of cases after 10 days. Prior written consent to participate would be taken from the parties.
The information came in a letter from the Registry addressed to senior advocate Dushyant Dave, the Supreme Court Bar Association president.
Some of the courtrooms, as viewed through TV screens while watching virtual court hearings, have already been fitted with glass partitions, dividing the judges from the rest of the courtroom.
A seven-judge committee of the Supreme Court led by Justice N.V. Ramana had “in-principle” recommended the beginning of physical court hearings in two or three courtrooms on a trial basis.
This was after a meeting held among the committee, Mr. Dave, senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra, the chairman of the Bar Council of India and advocate Shivaji Jadhav, who is the president of the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association.
Mr. Mishra had informed The Hindu that the Bar leaders had conveyed the anguish of lawyers, many whom are in dire straits, financially and professionally. They had urged the court to open up the courtrooms for physical hearings in a limited manner. They said many lawyers were unable to cope with the virtual court system as cases were complex, required detailed arguments and involved voluminous documents.
Virtual court hearings of limited cases have been on for the past few months of the pandemic lockdown till date.
Besides Justice Ramana, the other judges on the committee are Justices Arun Mishra, Rohinton F. Nariman, U.U. Lalit, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y. Chandrachud and L. Nageswara Rao.
