Supreme Court held 15,596 hearings in 100 days via video-conferencing amid COVID lockdown

As Coronavirus (COVID-19) rages on in India, the Supreme Court has held 15,596 hearings in the past 100 days via video-conferencing, as per a statement released by the apex court. Since March 23 before the first lockdown was implemented, the Supreme Court has constituted 1021 benches which dealt with 15,596 matters, represented by 50,475 advocates with 4,300 cases being disposed of. The statement also stated that these hearing include 587 main matters and 434 review petitions inspite of 125 registry staff and immediate family members got infected with COVID-19.

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SC: 15,596 matters heard in 100 days

"The functioning of the Supreme Court faced unprecedented challenges with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. In all of this (COVID cases among registry officials), the Supreme Court of India did not stop functioning throughout this entire period though some preferences were accorded to urgent issues. The Registry has not been shut down even for a day from March 16, 2020 till date," stated the SC statement.

Comparing the Indian SC's massive case hearing, the statement claimed that UK's top court, which is presently in recess, decided 29 cases between March 24 to August 17. Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court heard 74 cases between March 30 to August 17 and decided 44 of them and the top court of the European Union decided 57 cases between March 16 to August 17. Amid the Coronavirus lockdown, the Supreme Court is only hearing urgent issues.

7-judge committee recommends resumption of physical hearing in SC for long-standing issues

SC to start in-court sessions

On 12 August, a seven-judge committee recommended that final hearings of several important cases should be held in the court instead of video-conference. Sources stated that only two or three courtrooms will be used for hearings in long-standing cases only, where video-conferencing was not possible. The committee is preparing to start these in-court sessions in 10-15 days. Moreover, SC hearings being held remotely will continue.

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Several important cases - 150 pleas challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 23 pleas challenging revocation of Article 370 & Article 35 A, entry of women into Sabarimala temple in Kerala and other gender-related matters in Islam and Zoroastrianism, use of money bill route and reviewing the 'creamy layer' in OBCs have stalled in the apex court. The Ministry of Home Affairs has extended the current lockdown limited in containment zones from August 1 to 31. India has 21,58,947 recoveries and  6,92,028 active cases, while  54,849 people have died.

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(With PTI inputs)