Supreme Court considers starting few physical courts from next week

NEW DELHI: A Committee of seven judges, constituted by the Chief Justice of India, convened a meeting on Tuesday, and discussed several issues, including whether physical courts can start or not, the Supreme Court Advocates On Records Association (SCAORA) said.

"The judges' Committee is seriously considering to start at least 2-3 physical courts from the next week and in the meantime, the Registry would take necessary steps to prepare the courts for physical functioning," the SCAORA said in a statement.

The Presidents of SCBA (Supreme Court Bar Association), SCAORA and Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman, had also attended the Committee meeting held yesterday.

SCAORA President Shivaji M Jadhav, and SCBA President and senior Supreme Court lawyer Dushyant Dave urged the judges to start physical courts at the earliest, after taking required measures suggested by medical experts, keeping in view the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SCAORA said that the physical courts, if possible to start, will be in addition to the now existing virtual courts and people would have the option to do virtual hearing as well.

Matters from the final hearing list published before the lockdown would be listed before the physical Courts. The final decision would be taken by the Judges committee in a day or two, the SCAORA said.

This comes as physical court hearings are halted in the Supreme Court in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus.