The Supreme Court of India has registered a public interest litigation (PIL) petition to consider issues surrounding reopening of courts for physical hearing of cases..The PIL was registered based on a letter written by a young girl to Chief Justice of India (CJI), NV Ramana highlighting how schools have reopened but court are still reluctant to revert to full physical mode..This was revealed by Supreme Court judge Justice Vineet Saran during a function organised by the Bar Council of India (BCI) to felicitate the CJI."A young girl had also written to CJI yesterday that when schools have opened then why not the courts. CJI has taken note of it as a PIL and it will be heard shortly," said Justice Saran.Courts in India have been functioning through video conference since the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020. Though many High Courts and even the Supreme Court has resumed limited physical hearing, bulk of the cases are still being heard via virtual medium. The Supreme Court of India had commenced limited physical hearing on September 1 by way of a hybrid mechanism. As per the same, lawyers have the choice to opt for virtual or physical mode in a particular case. The response to the physical mode has been lukewarm with a majority of lawyers still preferring to argue their cases via video conference. .Pertinently, a petition is pending before the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that right to participate in court proceedings through virtual courts via video conference is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) and (g) of the Constitution.
