New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday, September 6, issued notice to the Bar Council of India (BCI), the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), four high courts and the Union government on a plea which seeks to have virtual hearings declared as a fundamental right to ease access to justice, Bar and Bench reported.The four high courts in question are those of Uttarakhand, Bombay, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.The plea had been filed to challenge the decision of the Uttarakhand high court to revert to hearing cases only in the physical mode and doing away with virtual hearings from August 24. In light of the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing lockdown, courts across the country have been operating in the hybrid mode, entertaining both physical hearings as well as virtual ones.Also read: Plea Against Move Pending in SC, Uttarakhand HC Does Away With Virtual HearingsThe petition was filed by the All India Jurists Association, a collection of over 5,000 lawyers from across the country. Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra stated that, in other high courts, particularly those of Bombay, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, lawyers were effectively being made to appear physically already.The plea stated that virtual hearings are an affordable and accessible means to justice for all people, citing the observations of the Supreme Court’s e-committee itself.The plea describes the Uttarakhand high court’s decision as a “death knell” for virtual hearings and asks for a Supreme Court direction to retrain high courts from denying access to lawyers through the virtual mode on the grounds that the option of a physical hearing is available, the Deccan Herald reported.The bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao, B.R. Gavai and B.V. Nagarathna remarked that the hybrid court could not function forever and asked the petitioners which fundamental right was being violated by the Uttarakhand high court’s notification. The court also cited the remarks of BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, stating that virtual hearings were the reason young lawyers were struggling.While issuing notice to the respondents, the bench noted that it would only pass orders after hearing what the BCI and the SCBA had to say. The apex court also refused to stay the Uttarakhand high court’s order.