New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana Wednesday expressed happiness over lawyers visiting courtrooms for hearings that are being conducted either virtually or in hybrid form since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the nation in March 2020.

The bench, also comprising justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli, which has now started assembling in the courtroom from February 14 in view of decreasing number of Covid cases, was praised by former Attorney General and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi for this.

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“My Lords, we are so happy to see you in court. I was tired from home,” Rohatgi told the bench.

“Same here. We were like who is this? Is it Mr Rohatgi or someone else,” responded the CJI.

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Referring to the glass partition between the judges' chairs and the sitting areas for the lawyers in the big courtroom, the bench said that it will be removed soon.

“God willing..,” said Justice Kohli.

Keeping in mind the significant decline in COVID-19 cases and the positivity rate, the apex court, on February 7, decided to revive its Modified Standard Operating Procedure and had said all the matters listed on Wednesdays and Thursdays would be heard in the physical presence of lawyers and litigants in courtrooms only.

Prior to this, the top court, in the first week of January, had taken note of the sudden spike in the number of COVID-19 cases and had decided to hear all matters in virtual mode from January 7.

The circular had said that all the benches will sit at the residential offices.

The top court has been hearing cases through video-conferencing and later through hybrid mode since March 2020 due to the pandemic.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)