SC goes paperless for first time in Delhi vs Centre hearing

New Delhi, Sep 07: Doing away with traditional bulky paper-books, a Supreme Court constitution bench on Wednesday heard a dispute between Centre and Delhi government using soft copies of petitions and pleadings.

Taking the first step towards paperless proceedings, the apex court said that no hard copies of files or compilations will be allowed in the Delhi vs Centre case hearing.

"We will be a completely green bench. It has to be started somewhere.... we also received (tech) training," the bench said.

The apex cour said it will decide the schedule of hearing on September 27 and told senior advocates and SG Tushar Mehta that no paper book will be allowed into the courtroom in that case. It asked Registry to make soft copies of all documents and provide it to Centre and Delhi government.

The bench added that the court officials are willing to train lawyers on Saturdays on how to use technology.

"The secretary and the IT head said that they are willing to train the seniors on how to use technology on Saturdays. But please do not keep papers in this court. So apart from hearing, please let us know if you all need the training, we will organise this," the judge said.

The bench, also comprising Justices M R Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha, said it would tentatively start the hearing the matter concerning the scope of legislative and executive powers of the Centre and Delhi government by mid-October.

The observation came after lawyers said a Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India U U Lalit will start hearing from September 13 pleas on the validity of the Centre's decision to grant 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker sections (EWS) in admissions and jobs through the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019.

On August 22, the apex court had said a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Chandrachud has been set up to hear the matter of control of services in Delhi. The matter had been referred to a Constitution bench on May 6.

The apex court had said the limited issue of control over services was not dealt with by the Constitution bench which elaborately dealt with all other legal questions.

"The limited issue that has been referred to this Bench relates to the scope of legislative and executive powers of the Centre and NCT Delhi with respect to the term services. The Constitution bench of this court, while interpreting Article 239AA(3)(a) of the Constitution, did not find any occasion to specifically interpret the impact of the wordings of the same with respect to Entry 41 in the State List. "We, therefore, deem it appropriate to refer to the above-limited question, for an authoritative pronouncement by a Constitution Bench...," it had said.

Sub Article 3(a) of 239AA deals with the law-making power of the Delhi Legislative Assembly on matters enumerated in the State List or the Concurrent List. On February 14, 2019, a two judge-bench recommended to the chief justice of India that a three-judge bench be set up to finally decide the issue of control of services in the national capital in view of its split verdict.