ANI
15 Jan 2022, 15:33 GMT+10
New Delhi [India], January 15 (ANI): A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging a circular issued by the Bombay High Court reducing its working hours to three hours a day in view of COVID-19.
The plea filed by activist Ghanshyam Upadhyay stated that due to the Standard Operating Procedure(SOP), the principal bench of the High Court has been "functioning only for namesake" causing hardships to the litigants and advocates.
According to the SOP issued on January 10, 2022, the High Court will function from 12 noon-3 pm without a lunch break from Monday to Friday starting from January 11 to 28.
It stated that courts can be made functional through a virtual hearing without reducing the working hours.
The plea said that the fundamental rights of citizens are being jeopardised and violated and it was a matter of great concern and public importance.
"The reason seems to reduce the risk for all concerned being infected with new variants, however, it has been forgotten that if all the courts are made functional for three hours in a day, then also such risk is enviable," it added.
The plea while seeking direction to the Bombay High court to form guidelines and ensure the virtual functioning of all courts in the State also said that virtual hearings can increase the disposal rate of cases and are the future of court proceedings.
As per the plea, another SOP has directed that from January 3, subordinate courts in Mumbai, Pune, Raigad and Alibaug will function from 11 am to 4 pm with 50 per cent of staff on rotation and to hear remand, bail and urgent matters through physical hearing.
The matters for recording evidence and hearing arguments were directed to be taken through the virtual platform.
The plea claimed that there are no requisite infrastructures in these courts for hearing matters through the virtual platforms.
It sought directions to all courts in the State to function full time through the virtual platforms by laying down guidelines without curtailing the court working hours. (ANI)Get a daily dose of India Gazette news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to India Gazette.
More InformationLONDON, U.K.: Physically backed gold exchange-traded funds recorded their most significant semi-annual inflow since the first half...
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: Some 32 percent of global semiconductor production could face climate change-related copper supply disruptions...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks rebounded Tuesday with all the major indices gaining ground. Markets in the UK, Europe and Canada...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Financial markets kicked off the week on a cautious note as President Donald Trump rolled out a fresh round...
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: At a two-day summit over the weekend, the BRICS bloc of emerging economies issued a joint declaration condemning...
LONDON, U.K.: This week, BP appointed Simon Henry, former Shell finance chief, to its board as a non-executive director effective September...
NEW DELHI, India: Birkenstock is stepping up its efforts to protect its iconic sandals in India, as local legal representatives conducted...
New Delhi [India], July 11 (ANI): A special 'Swarnim Bharat Yatra' tourist train under the Bharat Gaurav scheme will depart on August...
Agartala (Tripura) [India], July 11 (ANI): Tripura Minister Sudhangshu Das attended the 25th National Fish Farmers' Day. In his address,...
New Delhi [India], July 11 (ANI): Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar urged Indian businesses to expand globally, not only in markets but...
Vancouver [Canada], July 11 (ANI): Canadian journalist Daniel Bordman called the attack on a cafe owned by comedian Kapil Sharma a...
Noida (Uttar Pradesh) [India], July 11 (ANI): Yash Sahu, the son of Kanhaiya Lal, the tailor who was murdered in Rajasthan's Udaipur,...