Justice DY Chandrachud makes big statement on resumption of physical hearing in apex court

Even as the COVID-19 infections are at a gradual decline in India, Supreme Court Justice DY Chandrachud highlighted the importance of vaccination against COVID-19 and hinted that physical hearing in the Supreme Court will resume only after all citizens are vaccinated against COVID-19.

During a hearing, a lawyer representing the petitioner stated that he would pray to God for the next hearing on the case to be a physical hearing in the Supreme Court.

To this, Justice Chandrachud promptly responded saying, "Pray to God that vaccination for everyone is done as soon as possible and then only we will have a physical hearing."

Justice DY Chandrachud tested positive for COVID-19

Justice Chandrachud also shared his experience battling COVID-19 as he had tested positive for earlier in the month. He said he was in isolation for 18 days and was all alone reading books as he and his wife had tested positive at different time intervals. He has been heading the Bench which is presently hearing the suo motu case on issues concerning the COVID-19 management in the country.

The Apex Court had suspended physical hearings in April this year amid the surge in COVID-19 cases across the country, which led to over 40 Supreme Court staff members testing positive for COVID-19.

While hearing the suo moto case on COVID-19 management, the Apex court questioned the Centre over the differential pricing for COVID-19 vaccines while asking the Centre to submit their vaccine policy document.

Responding to the SC, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta representing the Centre said that the entire population of the country will be vaccinated by the end of this year.

COVID-19 situation in India

Meanwhile, India recorded a single-day rise of 1,27,510 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest in 54 days, taking the country's infection tally to 2,81,75,044, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday. India's active caseload further declined and is below 20 lakhs after 43 days. The active caseload further declined to 18,95,520 as active cases decreased by 1,30,572 in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate also declined to 6.62%, remaining below the 10 per cent-mark for the seventh consecutive days, while the weekly positivity rate dropped to 8.64%. Recoveries continue to outnumber the daily new cases for the 19th successive days, as India witnessed 2,55,287 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the ministry said. The recovery tally of India has reached 2,59,47,629 and the recovery rate stands at 92.09%. The Union Health Ministry has informed that nearly 21,60,46,638 vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.