Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said on Thursday that the Supreme Court may ramp up physical hearings after the Diwali break. .The CJI's statement came in response to Senior Advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Ranjit Kumar thanking CJI Ramana for resuming physical hearing of cases in a limited manner."After Diwali , we may start it on a larger scale," the CJI said.The Court will go on Diwali break from November 1 to November 6. The apex court is currently sitting physically only on Wednesdays and Thursday during non-miscellaneous days. This arrangement started from October 20 pursuant to the decision taken by the top court on October 7 that all cases listed on Wednesdays and Thursdays (non-miscellaneous days) will compulsorily require the physical presence of lawyers and will be heard only in court rooms. A modified Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was also issued to that effect.This is the first time since March 2020 that the Supreme Court is insisting on the physical presence of lawyers for cases, a sure sign of the top court' s plan to slowly open up physical hearing.After the Court shifted to virtual hearing in March last year due to COVID-19, lawyers were being provided the opportunity to appear physically or through video conference..However, the move to restart physical hearing has not been without its detractors. Just yesterday, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal made a mention with regard to the restrictions placed by the October 7 SOP on the number of lawyers allowed inside court rooms for physical hearing."I am sorry to mention this...but we wanted to talk about the decision of the Court regarding physical hearing. It is impossible to have only one lawyer inside the courtroom when volumes of cases and files are so much," Sibal had said.The CJI then said that he will discuss this issue with his brother and sister judges and take a call.
Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said on Thursday that the Supreme Court may ramp up physical hearings after the Diwali break. .The CJI's statement came in response to Senior Advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Ranjit Kumar thanking CJI Ramana for resuming physical hearing of cases in a limited manner."After Diwali , we may start it on a larger scale," the CJI said.The Court will go on Diwali break from November 1 to November 6. The apex court is currently sitting physically only on Wednesdays and Thursday during non-miscellaneous days. This arrangement started from October 20 pursuant to the decision taken by the top court on October 7 that all cases listed on Wednesdays and Thursdays (non-miscellaneous days) will compulsorily require the physical presence of lawyers and will be heard only in court rooms. A modified Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was also issued to that effect.This is the first time since March 2020 that the Supreme Court is insisting on the physical presence of lawyers for cases, a sure sign of the top court' s plan to slowly open up physical hearing.After the Court shifted to virtual hearing in March last year due to COVID-19, lawyers were being provided the opportunity to appear physically or through video conference..However, the move to restart physical hearing has not been without its detractors. Just yesterday, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal made a mention with regard to the restrictions placed by the October 7 SOP on the number of lawyers allowed inside court rooms for physical hearing."I am sorry to mention this...but we wanted to talk about the decision of the Court regarding physical hearing. It is impossible to have only one lawyer inside the courtroom when volumes of cases and files are so much," Sibal had said.The CJI then said that he will discuss this issue with his brother and sister judges and take a call.
