NEW DELHI: From July 13, the Supreme Court will start hearing miscellaneous as well as regular matters, bringing some respite to lawyers. This comes at a time when courts seem to have been hit the hardest by lockdown following the Covid-19 pandemic. The judiciary, already reeling under huge pendency of cases, has found that ‘virtual hearings’ have not brought much relief as these are meant only for urgent matters.
For regular cases, both lawyers and litigants are facing a tough time. In normal circumstances, the top court would have been on almost two-month vacation, which is now reduced to just two weeks. The main reason for hearing less number of cases is non-availability of infrastructure required for virtual hearings.
In all high courts and the Supreme Court, special arrangements were made only after the pandemic spread. Beginning from e-filing to virtual court hearings, all was done during this period. Glitches continue every day, at times frustrating lawyers as well as judges.
The Supreme Court suspended the entry of lawyers and litigants to the court premises a day before the lockdown began in March. Later, it was followed by subordinate courts also.Since March 23, 618 benches have heard 6,994 cases, in addition to 150 matters that were heard by the Registrar. During this period, the Supreme Court delivered 672 judgments in 134 main and 538 connected matters. In normal circumstances, these numbers would nearly be double as on an average, the Supreme Court hears hundreds of cases on each working day.
The high courts have fairly adapted to the new technology and heard maximum cases but if we compare the number of cases heard last year, the number is much higher. For instance in the case of Gujarat High Court, between March 24 to June 30, 8,138 matters were listed through email. As many as 1,403 regular bail applications and 342 anticipatory bail pleas were filed. During this period, 13,339 orders and 320 judgments were passed. Last year, over 20,000 cases were heard in the same period.
The Kerala High Court became the first court to hold virtual hearings. It heard eight bail pleas through videoconference. A total of 21 benches have disposed of 7,521 cases. Last year, it heard over 15,420 cases.
The newest High Court in Telangana, too, has performed well. It dealt with 9,087 cases and passed 1,401 judgments through videoconferencing. About 190 cases were heard every day which normally would be over 500.