'Resumption Of Physical Hearings By HCs Is Their Call, Supreme Court's VC Platform Will Be Stabilised Very Shortly': Justice D. Y. Chandrachud

A full-fledged resumption of physical hearings in the Supreme Court may not be transpiring any time soon!On Friday, Senior Advocate Dhruv Mehta, appearing before a bench headed by Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, pointed out that physical hearings have commenced in several High Courts across the country."It is their (the High Courts') call", remarked Justice Chandrachud."Let us hope that the vaccination is effective. So that we can resume physical hearings here in the Supreme Court also", continued Mr. Mehta."Actually, very shortly you will receive the good news. Our video conferencing platform will now be stabilised, thanks to the tender we are awarding...Justice A. M. Khanwilkar, Justice Hemant Gupta and I are taking care of this. So this will be done very shortly", said Justice Chandrachud in response.The Supreme Court, in the last few weeks, appeared to be mulling over the resumption of physical hearings. When the senior counsel appearing in the Maratha reservation matter before a five-judge bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan pressed for a physical hearing of the matter, Justice Bhushan, reportedly, hinted that the same may concretise soon. Subsequently, CJ S. A. Bobde had stated that a decision on the aspect of physical hearings shall be taken in consultation with the medical experts, without being swayed by the lawyers' opinions.Then, only this Monday, Justice Chandrachud said that the new, improved system of virtual hearings in the Supreme Court may come into force soon.The remark came when Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar, arguing before a bench headed by Justice Chandrachud, was abruptly disconnected. Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal, who was also appearing in the matter, complained about the "disruptive" nature of the hearings via the Vidyo and VidyoConnect platforms."Let me inform you that tenders had been floated to bring on board a private party, a competent platform to take over this entire effort from us. We are outsourcing it, but being a public body, we have to follow tender requirements. This exercise is on the anvil of being completed. We will be doing that by Wednesday", said Justice Chandrachud."Once the Supreme Court tender is finalised, I, as the Chairperson of the E- Committee of the Supreme Court, will undertake one global tender for the entire judiciary in India. That process is also almost complete. I was indisposed all of last week but we are meeting this Wednesday", continued the judge.Besides, AG K. K. Venugopal had last week said that he has written to the Registrar General of the court on the abysmal quality of the virtual hearing system in the court and that consequent to that, bids have come to be invited in this behalf.

'Resumption Of Physical Hearings By HCs Is Their Call, Supreme Court's VC Platform Will Be Stabilised Very Shortly': Justice D. Y. Chandrachud

Mehal Jain

Tags