'It's disturbing': SC on CJs of High Courts not allowing virtual hearing

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked all Chief Justices of high courts to take a favourable view on the infrastructure in place for virtual hearings and not insist on physical presence of lawyers before the court.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, said: "What some of the Chief Justices are doing is… all the money which we have spent, they're just disbanding the technological infrastructure which we have created for virtual hearings".

"Irrespective of whether a Chief Justice is technology-friendly or not, this is not how you deal with public money. You have to ensure that infrastructure is available."

The top court noted the government has announced in the budget that Rs 7,000 crore would be made available for e-courts, which will be used for infrastructure improvement in all the district courts also.

The bench, also comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala, stressed that the high courts need to learn that technology has to be used and this is public money (budget allocation). It further pointed out that some of the Chief Justices are not allowing virtual hearings and it is disturbing.