HYBRID HEARING RULES WILL GO IF BAR HASN’T BEEN CONSULTED IN ITS FRAMING: SC
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday orally observed that its standard operating procedure (SOP) on commencement of hybrid physical hearing from March 15 would go if it has been framed without consulting the bar body, SCBA.
A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta heard submissions of senior advocate Vikas Singh, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), that the bar body is an equal stakeholder in the justice delivery system and has not been consulted by the apex court’s registry in framing SOP on hybrid physical hearing.
“If the bar has not been consulted then the SOP will go,” the bench orally observed and fixed SCBA’s plea for hearing on Tuesday during proceedings conducted through video conferencing. The SCBA and its Treasurer Meenesh Kumar Dubey, in the petition, has sought quashing of the SOP and a direction to the Registry not to issue “any circular without consulting the Bar”.
The top court, which has been hearing cases through videoconferencing since March last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, came out on March 5 with the SOP and a day after, the newly-elected executive committee of SCBA headed by president Vikas Singh rejected it in an emergent meeting.
“On an experimental basis, and as a pilot scheme, the final hearings/regular matters listed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays may be heard in the hybrid mode, as may be decided by the bench, considering the number of parties in a matter as well as the limited capacity of the courtrooms; all other matters, including those listed on Mondays and Fridays, shall continue to be heard through video/ tele-conferencing mode,” said the SOP issued by the apex court.
The SCBA’ plea, settled by its President, said the bar body has around 13,000 members and has been constrained to file the plea as “the SOP has been issued by the Registry without consultation with the Bar even though 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.” It said in the meeting of SCBA office bearers with the Chief Justice S A Bobde on March 1, it was assured that the needful would be done by the Registry expeditiously taking into consideration the suggestions given by the Executive Committee.