Supreme Court issues notice to BCI, SCBA, 4 High Courts on plea to declare virtual court hearing as fundamental right

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice the Central government, four High Courts, the Bar Council of India (BCI) and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on a plea challenging the decision of the Uttarakhand High Court to revert to full physical functioning from August 24 to the exclusion of virtual mode of hearing cases..The four High Courts whose response have been sought are Uttarakhand, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala.The Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna was hearing a plea which specifically challenged an August 16 notification issued by the Uttarakhand High Court which said that it will resume normal judicial work only through physical mode from August 24, 2021 and no request for virtual hearing will be entertained..Importantly, the plea filed by All India Jurists Association, a body of more than 5,000 lawyers across the country and journalist Sparsh Upadhyay of Livelaw also sought a declaration that right to participate in court proceedings through virtual courts via video conference is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) and (g) of the Constitution..When the matter came up for hearing on Monday, the Court observed how BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra had stated that virtual hearings was the reason why younger lawyers were suffering. ."We miss seeing you in court. We are missing eye to eye contact and argument in full flow in court is missing ! How will young lawyers learn. Virtual courts should be there but hybrid cannot function forever and physical courts cannot be just done away with. What is the fundamental right being violated here? 19 (1)(g)," asked the top court. .Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that some High Courts were saying that it would follow hybrid mode of hearing but were effectively insisting on physical appearance of lawyers. The Bench made it clear that it would not be staying any notification without hearing the other side..Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Supreme Court Bar Association made it clear that they want "only full physical hearing."The Court eventually issued notice to the respondents while stating that it will only pass orders after hearing the Bar Council of India and SCBA..The plea filed through advocate Sriram Parakkat and drawn by advocates Siddharth R Gupta and Prerna Robin stated that the August 16 notification of the Uttarakhand High Court is a death knell for the very idea of virtual courts which is an accessible, affordable justice in the country as observed by the E-Committee of Supreme Court.The plea besides challenging the decision of the Uttarakhand High Court, also sought a direction to restrain all High Courts from denying access to lawyers through virtual mode of hearing and video conference on the ground of availability of the option of physical hearing."The occasion of seeking the said relief has arisen in the view of the fact that large number of advocates of the Petitioner association as also those across the Country are compelled to appear physically before many Courts of the respective High Courts, in view of commencement of physical hearing in the High Courts," the plea said..[Read Live Thread of Hearing]