During COVID-19 threat, CJI invalidates complete shut down of Supreme Court

The supreme court of India

An urgent meeting was held by Chief Justice of India(CJI) Sharad A. Bobde on Sunday to clarify that there cannot be a complete shutdown of courts in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.

Members of the meeting

The meeting was chaired by the CJI along with Justices Arun Mishra, U.V Lalit, D.Y. Chandrachud and L. Nagesswara Rao. Randeep Guleria from AIIMS, Balram Bhargava from ICMR, along with other experts, attended the meeting. Office bearers of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association were also present at the meeting.

Enactment

The Constitution of India under Article 145 possesses the Supreme Court to frame its own rules for regulating the practice and procedure of the court as and when required. Accordingly, "Supreme Court Rules," 1950 were framed. These rules were reclaimed in 1966, 2013 and 2015. Under the rules, the SC obtained Roster System.

Roster System

Under the new roster System, the CJI will hear all leave petitions and matters related to public interest, social justice, elections, arbitration and criminal matters, along with others. He also empowered to announce holidays for the court. With these powers, in the wake of Corona Virus, the CJI has limited the operation of the SC.