SC judges to begin courtroom work from next week, more benches to sit

New Delhi: Judges of the Supreme Court are likely to return to their iconic building on Bhagwan Das Road next week when the third phase of the lockdown is expected to end. Operations from the building had stopped after a nationwide lockdown was announced in late March to contain the spread of coronavirus. Justice L Nageswara Rao, who was hearing bail matters through video link on Tuesday, said more benches will sit to expedite clearance of pending work. He was sitting alongside Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice Sanjiv Khanna.

“We will take this up later. Once video conferencing starts on a larger scale we will list it immediately,” Justice Rao said to the counsel, SK Suri. To Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s query on whether they would be sitting in the court rooms from next week, Justice Rao said: “Yes. Next week we will sit in the Supreme Court. It’s a pilot project. Lawyers can argue from their chambers.” However, there is no clarity on whether the judges’ return to the building will hinge on the lockdown being lifted on May 18. There is also no clarity on whether the court is scaling up the limited transmission of court proceedings for reporters.

At present, judges of only one or two benches take up matters over video link from home. Lawyers join in from their chambers or residences, while reporters watch proceedings being transmitted on display units placed in the press rooms in the top court. There are at least 60,000 cases pending in the top court, including those challenging the government’s decision on Kashmir, the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.