New Delhi: The Supreme Court has pulled up a lawyer for not speaking up during a virtual hearing despite the court having thrice asked him to do so.
The bench, comprising Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and Navin Sinha, observed:
“Despite the fact that the mike was on and despite the fact that he was told by the court at least three times that he should open his mouth, he purposely did not do so, because he was waiting for a Senior Advocate. He should have come upfront with the court and informed the court that he was waiting for the Senior Advocate instead of indulging in tactics of this kind.”
The bench, also taking note of the undue advantage taken by lawyers during virtual hearings, said:
“We strongly deprecate tactics of this kind. We do not want advocates to take advantage of a non-physical hearing system when it is working on both sides. However, despite all this we have still heard the learned counsel.”
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However, according to reports, it is said that the counsel did not know that his case had been called out.
Though the bench later heard the counsel, it dismissed the special leave petition saying that it did not wish to interfere with the high court’s order.
– India Legal Bureau