New Delhi: A Committee of seven Judges has decided against the resumption of physical courts hearing in the Supreme Court (SC) for a period of at least two weeks, in view of current Covid-19 situation here.

“In view of unanimous medical opinion that while there is a marginal dip in the reported cases of Covid-19 in past couple of days, the status quo need to be maintained at least for a period of two weeks, the Committee of Judges decided to review the situation after two weeks,” an official statement said.

The Committee, led by second senior-most Judge, Justice N.V. Ramana, also resolved that for the present, the court functioning will continue through video- conference in order to obviate the risk of spread of infection in the premises.

The Committee held a discussion through video-conferencing on July 21, with SC Bar Association President Dushyant Dave, SC Advocate on Record Association (SCAoRA) President Shivaji M. Jadhav and Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra wherein opinions from medical experts were considered with regard to present status of the pandemic.

As the Bar leaders apprised the Committee of difficulties faced by the lawyers, the Committee said it was fully “conscious and deeply concerned of their difficulties.”

It was anxious to gradually restore normalcy in the physical functioning of the court, still the decision will have to be guided by a holistic assessment of situation on the basis of medical advise and also considering the safety and wellness of lawyers, litigants, registry staff and lastly of Judges also, it added.

The Committee also asked the representatives of Bar to meet the Secretary General and the concerned Registrar for remedial measures with regard to difficulties faced by the lawyers relating to e-filing and video-conferencing.

Since March, the Top Court has restricted the number of courts which have been conducting hearing of cases through video-conferencing only.