NEW DELHI: Observing that it cannot issue judicial command, the Supreme Court on Wednesday made an appeal to all members of the Bar to attend hearings of cases online.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was hearing a plea demanding that all Delhi courts should go online in view of the soaring mercury.
“The temperature in Delhi is touching 50 degrees Celsius and it may not be conducive for senior members to come in public transport. Best is online.
“We appreciate the initiative taken by the petitioner. However, it may not be prudent to issue judicial command for members to appear online without knowing the difficulties faced by them; consequently, we deem it appropriate to not issue any directions," the bench said.
The top court, however, made an appeal to all members of the Bar to attend court proceedings through the virtual mode.
On May 21, the CJI had said that he has asked all the high courts across the country to conduct hearings online, and most of them have already implemented it.
The observation came after a lawyer mentioned a petition before a bench headed by the CJI seeking an urgent hearing of her plea that all Delhi courts should go online.
The lawyer told the apex court that in her plea, she has sought directions to all the district courts to conduct hearings online for three months in the interest of the nation.
CJI Kant had earlier requested the chief justices of all the high courts to conduct hearings online on Mondays and Fridays for the time being to reduce avoidable expenditure in the wake of the West Asia crisis.
On May 15, the top court decided to hear cases exclusively through videoconferencing on Mondays and Fridays, while judges “unanimously resolved” to encourage car pooling arrangements among themselves in order to ensure optimum fuel utilisation.
The move came following an appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cut down on avoidable expenditure due to the West Asia crisis.