AGENCIES, New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said that there will be no more “in-person” hearings till further orders and it will hear the urgent matters through “virtual means”.
A bench, header by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Arvind Bodbe, also ordered the sealing of the lawyers’ chambers in the premises by Tuesday evening, saying only the Supreme Court Bar Association president will authorise lawyers to enter court premises for urgent reasons.
“The court will conduct videoconferencing to hear urgent matters,” said a bench observed.
“Will cancel all proximity cards to dissuade lawyers from coming to apex court,” it added.
CJI Bobde added that the bench will take call by today itself on possible shut down or prepone summer vacation, as demanded by lawyer bodies.
Bobde last week had said that video conferencing facility will be set up to hear the matters within a week and smart TVs will be installed for the media to cover the cases to dissuade them from entering the court rooms.
The AAP government told the Delhi High Court on Monday that it had decided to decongest its prisons to check the spread of coronavirus by providing convicts with the options of special parole and furlough.
Taking note of the submission, the bench directed the Delhi government to take steps during the day to implement what it has proposed and disposed of a plea moved by two lawyers seeking decongesting of the prisons in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has asked all its branches to suspend all the non-urgent interrogations/recording of witness statements till April 4, reported Hidustan Times.
