Supreme Court to resume physical hearing soon in a hybrid manner

The Supreme Court will resume physical hearing of cases soon albeit in a limited manner, Chief Justice of India (CJI), SA Bobde assured representatives of the Supreme Court Bar on Monday. .It will happen after considering the medical advice and clearing the existing impediments regarding health of the stakeholders, technology infrastructures and availability of staff of registry..The process for the same has already commenced and the hearing will be in a hybrid manner, i.e., a combination of physical and virtual mode. .Importantly, consent of lawyers/ advocates-on-record will not be taken for physical hearing. ."The said resumption of physical hearings in a hybrid manner will be based on normal listing of cases and not based on consent of the Advocates On Record/Advocates," a communication by officials of Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) said. .The Solicitor General of India, the Chairman of Bar Council of India, officer bearers of SCAORA, Supreme Court Bar Association and Senior Advocate Vikas Singh met the CJI today who gave these assurances. .As per the SCAORA communication, mentioning of cases will also be allowed based on urgency and in a phased manner..The top court has been functioning via video conferencing since March 23, 2020, when it shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It had issued a circular on March 23 suspending the entry of lawyers and litigants to the court premises and directing that only urgent cases will be taken up for hearing through video conferencing.Virtual hearings are conducted through Vidyo app, which can be downloaded on mobile phones and desktop.The Court had attempted to resume physical hearing in September 2020, but with little success.It had, in fact, modified the Court rooms and installed infrastructure to commence physical hearing in a limited way, but the same was met with a lukewarm response from the Bar..However, the demand for resumption of physical hearings had grown stronger with the release of Covid vaccine. Over the past few weeks, the Supreme Court itself had given hints that physical hearing could soon commence in the top court.