Resume physical courts from June 1, Bar Council urges CJI

‘Only a handful of advocates benefits from virtual court system’

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde, requesting that physical court hearings be resumed from June 1.

BCI chairperson and senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra said that only a “handful of privileged class of advocates are the beneficiaries of the virtual court system”.

“Not all requests for listing of cases even in this [urgent] category are adequately entertained. We are told that only two percent of this category succeed in getting the matter listed for virtual court hearing. Only a handful of privileged class of advocates are the beneficiaries of the virtual court system,” the BCI said.

The letter said lawyers felt that “access to justice remains a dream for more than 95% of litigants... This is the harsh truth”.

The BCI said lawyers were largely struggling to make ends meet. “Ninety-five percent of the advocates are without any court work and court appearances.”

“The cases of only a few fortunate persons are being fixed, the kith and kin of only a few have earned a huge money during this lockdown in almost all High Courts. Such messages are pouring regularly in the BCI... This has caused a great loss to common advocates,” it said.

The BCI said society has to learn to co-exist with the novel coronavirus. Physical courts have to start again. A suitable scheme for the functioning of physical courts, including the restricted entry of advocates, time-slot hearings and strict compliance with social distancing norms, should be put in place. The BCI pointed out that government and private sector offices had already started work with restrictions in place.

“My Lord, it is now a hard reality that COVID-19 is not going to go soon. We will have to learn to work with the coronavirus and adopt all necessary measures to keep it at bay,” Mr. Mishra said.