COVID-19: Supreme Court Bar Association asks CJI to cancel summer vacation

The Supreme Court Bar Association, on Saturday, asked the Chief Justice of India to cancel the summer vacation, scheduled between May 16 and July 5, in order to make good loss of working hours. The top court is hearing urgent matters since March 16, in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

In a resolution, the lawyers body also requested CJI SA Bobde to improve the current video conferencing facility by adopting live streaming as mandated in the SC's judgement in 'Swapnil Tripathi' (2018).

This has come within days of the Delhi HC cancelling the one-month summer vacation in June for the High Court and subordinate courts.

The executive committee of the SC lawyers supported the need for the restrictions, saying those were "unavoidable in the unprecedented situation faced by all in the first phase of the lockdown".

It, however, requested the CJI and the companion judges of the Supreme Court to take further proactive measures to mitigate the suffering and distress of the litigating public by gradually restoring full functioning of the top court. It said the existing 'Vidyo' (app-based) conferencing platform must be replaced by a modern and efficient multi-user platform such as those provided by other well-known companies or the interactive services being used by the Council of Ministers and officials of the government on a daily basis.