Supreme Court Adjourns Suo Moto COVID-19 Case To May 13 Due To Technical Glitches

The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned to Thursday the suo moto case pertaining to COVID-19 related issues in the country due to the Control Room server being down. A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat had assembled at 11 AM. However, due to connectivity issues, the Bench was disconnected from the proceedings. After a period of 45 minutes, Amicus Curiae Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta informed the lawyers present in the VC session that the other Court had also risen due to technical problems. At this juncture, Justice Bhat appeared and informed the lawyer that due to the Supreme Court Control Room server being down, the matter would be adjourned to Thursday. Justice Bhat added that the judges also needed time to peruse the affidavit filed by the Centre yesterday in compliance with the Court's 30th April order. The Central Government filed an Affidavit yesterday, submitting that its vaccination policy conforms to the mandate of Article 14 and Article 21 of the Constitution of India, and therefore requires no interference by the Supreme Court. When the bench assembled at 11 AM, Justice Chandrachud told SG Tushar Mehta that while he had received the reply on Sunday night and had the opportunity of perusing it, the other two members of the bench had received it only at 10 AM on Monday."For me, it was a little easier. I read the Indian Express (article on the affidavit)...the Indian Express had the affidavit before any of the judges had got it...", added Justice Chandrachud.The SG explained the position- "Once we supply it to the states, the respondents, it is not possible to..." Justice Chandrachud said, "I got it last night so I could read it. But Justice Bhat got it late. And Justice Rao got it from Justice Bhat"Then, the bench came to be disconnected on account of some issue with the server.After a while, Justice Bhat appeared on the screen to inform the advocates that the Supreme Court control room is "down today"- "We have all consulted and decided that we would like to read the affidavit first. So we will have all these matters on Thursday now"

Supreme Court Adjourns Suo Moto COVID-19 Case To May 13 Due To Technical Glitches

Radhika Roy

Tags