Soni Satti
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court seeking quashing of the Standard Operating Procedure issued by the SC Registry last week for enabling ‘Hybrid Physical Hearing’ from March 15 onwards.
The association, which has over 13,000 members, said the SOP notified on March 5 was just another instance when the court’s administrative wing – the court registry – did not choose to take lawyers into confidence
The plea filed though Advocate Rahul Kaushik stated that the impugned SOP dated March 5 has been issued by the Registry without consultation with the Bar
The March 5 circular on the hybrid physical hearings highlight that the SOP was finalised after taking into consideration the suggestions given by lawyers’ bodies. However, the petition said the SOP was “unilaterally thrust” upon lawyers on March 5.
The petition urged the court to quash the SOP and make sure that the court registry consulted lawyers before issuing any circulars in future which directly affected the lawyers practising in the court. The SCBA had, in a press release, said it was “unanimously resolved and decided” to reject the SOP.
‘’Bar is an equal stakeholder in the dispensation of the Justice Delivery System and the suggestions given by the Bar ought to have been taken into consideration.” The plea avers that in the meeting of the Executive Committee of the SCBA with the CJI, held on March 1, regarding the physical/hybrid hearing, it was assured that the needful would be done by the Registry expeditiously taking into consideration the suggestions given by the Executive Committee. However, it is claimed, that the impugned SOP has been issued “unilaterally” by the Registry.
“Most of the high courts have started holding physical courts… The last one year has affected younger members of the Bar. There were a lot of problems with regard to muting and unmuting of lawyers in virtual hearings… It is high time, when every place has started working with safety precautions, normalcy is restored in the Supreme Court,” the SCBA’s writ petition, filed by advocate Rahul Kaushik and settled by SCBA president and senior advocate Vikas Singh, contended.