Sreya Kanugula
On January 31, 2021, the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association (SCAORA) wrote to the Chief Justice of India to seek continuation of physical hearings along with the current virtual sessions of the courts in a hybrid sense.
Through other representation, the SCAORA made the request for the Registry’s access to be granted to the AORs as well as the Advocated for any follow-up on urgent subjects with relation to the registry, including urgent matter listings, refilling inconsistencies, mentions, etc.
They stated that while several advocates, including junior advocates, are dealing with financial issues, many of the litigants are facing just as many difficulties with their matters being impeded to be listed.
Since the vaccination process had been initiated, several implemented COVID-19 related restrictions had been lifted and everyone’s currently endeavoring to regain some normalcy, the Association’s view on this matter was stated to be that these hybrid hearings would be very beneficial to this goal.
Their representation also noted the fact that following the former representations, a few of the court halls had been renovated following the medical committee’s advice to start physical hearings, and consequently, an SOP dated September 12th, 2020 was notified for holding limited physical court hearings in the wake of the pandemic in the SC.
Before this, a joint representation was submitted by both the Executive Committee of Supreme Court Bar Association and SCAORA to seek continuation of physical court hearings right after their combined meeting.