New Delhi, Sep 4 (Representative) The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to defer its decision which said that only lawyers who are present in court physically or online during hearings can mark their appearance in court records.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, who is also the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), mentioned the matter before a Bench comprising Justice J K Maheshwari and Justice Rajesh Bindal and sought time to resolve the issue.The Court then agreed to defer its order passed on August 29.The bench put the order on hold for a week. The matter will next be heard on September 11.On August 29, the Bench directed that only lawyers who were present in the court physically or online during hearings would be allowed to mark their appearance for cases (in the record of court proceedings, orders or judgments).That order was passed while hearing a batch of part-heard contempt petitions.
During a hearing, the Court observed that the name of a lawyer, who was not in the town, had entered his name in the list of lawyers who had appeared for the proceedings.The said lawyer’s name was submitted through an online portal launched in December 2022 called the Advocate Appearance Portal, by which Advocates-On-Record (AoRs) are required to put in the names of lawyers appearing in a matter, every morning.During the hearing on August 29, the Bench was told that the said lawyer was not present in the courtroom either physically or through video conference.The Bench further noted that there were other lawyers as well whose names were submitted for marking their appearance, even though they were not present in Court.The Court lamented that the Advocate Appearance Portal was only meant to be used to mark the presence of those lawyers who are actually in Court to argue the matter or assist in the arguments.
“This would not mean that the advocate, who is neither present personally nor online, may be allowed to mark his presence by furnishing online information,” the Court said.The Court added that even lawyers associated with the office of the arguing counsel, but not present physically in the courtroom or by video conference, should not mark their appearance.The Court then passed the order that only those advocates who were present physically or online could mark their attendance.The SCBA and the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) were requested to ensure compliance with the directive.Now the lawyer’s bodies have appealed to the Apex Court to sort out the issue. The court has stayed its decision for a week.