New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Monday virtually went into a lockdown in view of the coronavirus epidemic, indefinitely suspending the entry of advocates and other staff in the high security zone on the basis of their proximity cards.
The top court, without specifying any date, said that only one court will sit to take up extremely urgent matters through video conferencing by an app, which will be installed in desktop, laptop or mobile phones. The top court also directed that the lawyers' chamber and offices will be closed and advised advocates not to attend their respective offices, as no sanitation staffs will be allowed inside.
"The entry into the High Security Zone be further regulated by suspending entry of Learned Advocates on the basis of their proximity no cards, till further orders.
The Advocates having offices/chambers in the various Lawyers Chamber Blocks situated in the Supreme Court may be advised against attending their respective offices/chambers, as they would require to be closed due to lack of cleaning and conservancy services, in light of the steps taken pursuant to the Government notification," a circular issued by the top court said.
The top court circular said that benches would be constituted to hear only matters involving extreme urgency, similar to the process done during vacations of apex court.
It said that the court taking up the matters, which are extremely urgent in nature will be heard virtually through video-conferencing on 'Vidyo' app and lawyers have been advised to download the app on their desktop/laptop or mobile phone.
The circular also listed out the modalities and issued a standard operating procedure as how the app could be downloaded, how the video-conferencing could be done and how to apply for hearing of the extremely urgent matters.
It said that if the advocate or Party-in-Person is unable to connect through video-conferencing due to non-availability of hardware/network on any given date, then his matter could be taken the next date and he would be required to be present in the video-conference room by indicating in the application their desire to do so.