SC indicates physical hearing may resume soon

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said that physical hearing in the apex court may start within 10 days. The bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, said this while hearing pleas against the Bombay High Court verdict in a matter related to tariff order passed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India last year. 

The bench said in virtual hearing, sometimes they are unable to see or hear lawyers arguing the matter. "We may hear physically after one week or 10 days," the CJI observed. 

The top court has been hearing cases through video-conferencing since March last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and several bar bodies and lawyers have been demanding that physical hearings should resume immediately. 

In July this year, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had written a letter to the CJI urging that physical hearing in the apex court be resumed saying the COVID-19 situation in the national capital has become "almost normal''. Earlier in March this year the apex court had commenced hybrid proceedings, a combination of virtual and physical hearing, amid demands by lawyers for resumption of complete physical hearings.