A Supreme Court bench on Monday refused to have virtual hearings and asked lawyers to appear physically before it.

The direction, made as an oral observation, is likely to dismay many advocates who have been appearing in multiple courtrooms from their air-conditioned chambers.

“We come to the court every day. Only lawyers who appear physically before us will get the indulgence (hearing),” the vacation bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and B.V. Nagarathna said.

The bench made the remark when it spotted senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing through the virtual mode although many other lawyers were present physically in the courtroom.

“Why should we grant you any indulgence when other lawyers are appearing before us physically? You are not here in the court. Other lawyers are here in the court during vacation,” Justice Rastogi remarked.

The apex court has been on vacation since last week. The other vacation bench, of Justices B.R. Gavai and Hima Kohli, did not say anything about not allowing virtual hearings.

Rohatgi gracefully assured the court he would appear physically on Wednesday and asked that the matter be adjourned accordingly.

The bench agreed, saying: “If you are busy in some other court, then ask your junior colleague to argue.”

Next, while hearing another case, Justice Rastogi asked senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, too, to appear physically.

Singhvi insisted that if the rule to appear physically was to be implemented, it should be done across the board. “Let there be a uniform rule and let there not be an Article 14 (right to equality) violation,” he said.

Singhvi then said he would appear in person on Tuesday, and the court adjourned the matter.

Another advocate, K. Parmeshwar, who too was appearing virtually, cited the Chief Justice of India’s administrative order of May 20 that allows lawyers to appear either physically or virtually on Mondays and Fridays.

But the bench refused to buy the argument. Benches have the judicial power to overrule administrative orders.

Since March 2020, when the Covid pandemic took on serious proportions, the apex court has mostly been functioning in the virtual mode. It reopened for physical hearings from February this year after an improvement in the pandemic situation.

However, many advocates have continued to appear mostly in the virtual mode after obtaining permission and e-links from the court. Some lawyers have been appearing from far-off places, even from foreign holiday locations.