Supreme Court hearings to be held virtually from Jan 7; judges directed to work from home

Amid rise in COVID cases in the country, normalcy seems to be disrupted again as stringent restrictions are being implemented to mitigate the spread of the virus. Switching back to the virtual mode, the Supreme court on Thursday announced that the apex court will be hearing all matters virtually from Friday, January 7, onwards. 

SC goes all virtual amid COVID scare

In view of the exponential rise in the COVID cases, the top court had ordered that all the judges will work from their residential offices. The circular issued by the Supreme court also noted that only highly urgent mentioned matters, fresh matters, bail matters involving stay, custody, and fixed date matters shall be listed before the Court beginning January 10.

This comes days after the apex court had preliminary announced the decision to hold virtual hearings for two weeks on Sunday, January 2. In its circular dated January 2, 2022, the top court noted that all physical hearings (with hybrid option) before the court will remain suspended for the present. From January 3, all hearings will be conducted virtually for a period of two weeks amid the Omicron scare. 

The court had earlier suspended even the hybrid form of hearings that was launched last year in August after India witnessed the deadly second COVID wave. In October 2021, the top court had permitted to conduct the physical hearing of cases, two days a week. In a release, the top court informed that the physical hearings will be held on every Wednesday and Thursday while continuing the earlier set up of hybrid hearings on Tuesdays. With case hearings on Mondays and Fridays to be held virtually. 

COVID-19 cases across India

India, in the last 24 hours reported 90,928 new cases of Coronavirus. The active caseload in the country is currently at 2,85,401. A total of 19,206 recoveries have been reported in the last 24 hours which has increased the total recoveries figure to 3,43,41,009. Meanwhile, the Omicron tally rose to 2,630 in the latest update as per the Health Ministry.

Maharashtra and Delhi continue to report the highest number of Omicron cases with 797 and 465 infections respectively further followed by Rajasthan, Kerala, Karnataka and Gujarat. Meanwhile, Manipur, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh reported one Omicron case each. 

Image: Pixabay/ Shutterstock