After a 45- day long vacation due to the lockdown imposed because of the global pandemic, the Supreme Court is planning to reopen from 17 May. As the lockdown 4.O in place already, according to our honourable Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi, the court has decided upon working through the vacation through video conferencing, as a lot of time has already been lost due to the lockdown.
With an official statement on Tuesday, the Supreme Court has declared that it would start functioning from the next week. And adhering to the social distancing norms, the court will hear appeals through video conferencing app ‘VIDYO’.
The apex court has been using video conferencing to hold proceedings since 25 March. However, the advocates and other staff were not permitted to enter.
A bench with Justices L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, and Sanjiv Khanna was conducting the hearing. While Solicitor Tushar Mehta asked if the judges were holding proceedings from the premises of apex court.
As they accepted, the choice of video conferencing was made for the reopening of the court. Now, the lawyers are supposed to join through video conferencing right from their homes or offices, while the benches will assemble at the judge’s residence.
The apex court with a sanctioned strength of 34, but 32 judges are currently set; normally sits in a combination of two or three constituting a bench. But now a single-judge bench will come into play.
