Feel free to: CJI on lawyers appearing online amid Covid surge

Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud on Wednesday took note of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country, saying that the Supreme Court is willing to hear lawyers via video conferencing.

Referring to recent media reports, a bench comprising the CJI and Justice J B Pardiwala said that the court is more than willing to permit lawyers to appear through the hybrid mode.

"Newspaper reports show that COVID cases are on the rise. Whichever lawyer wants to appear virtually they can. The hybrid mode is on and I see many lawyers who are appearing online. So please feel free to," the CJI said.

India recorded 4,435 new Covid infections today, the biggest single-day jump in 163 days. With this the number of active cases increased to 23,091, according to Union health ministry data as the overall tally climbed to 4.47 crore (4,47,33,719).

The death toll increased to 5,30,916 with 15 deaths, the data stated. With 2,069 recoveries in the last 24 hours, total recoveries have increased to 4,41,77,204 . The overall recovery rate was pegged at 98.76%.

India has so far administered 220.65 crore vaccine doses (95.20 crore second doses and 22.86 crore precautionary doses), of which 9,497 doses were administered on Tuesday.