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The Supreme Court of India marked 71 years on Thursday since its first day of functioning in the year 1950.

A press statement by the Public Relations Officer of the Top Court reads that despite technological constraints and other challenges of reduced workforce on account of the ongoing pandemic,  43,713 hearings were held by 1998 benches through Video Conferencing mode in the year 2020.

"In all these years the Apex Court under the mandate given to it by the Constitution of India has relentlessly marched towards ensuring the protection of rights and liberties of the citizens, upholding rule of law and the Constitutional Values. The Supreme Court was faced with various challenges in its journey, but it remained committed to its duties and ensured that the access to justice remains unhindered."
- Supreme Court of India

Marking 7 decades of effective and unprecedented functioning, the Supreme Court of India has noted that even though it was recently faced with the highly contagious Corona Virus, the Apex Court ensured access to Justice remains unabated. During these unprecedented challenges, the Court remained functional throughout, though number of benches were reduced.

"Beyond the usual minimum required 190 days Court sittings in a Calendar Year, the Court was functional for 231 days, including 13 vacation sittings in the year 2020"

Further, marking the effective and incessant workings of all its stakeholders, the press release states that the Registry also remained functional for 271 days as against an average of 268 days in the previous three years.

"The Registry’s working strength was affected considerably with 408 officials/staff infected with Covid-19 and an unfortunate loss of life of one official. However almost 99% of the officials/staff so reported positive for the infection were asymptomatic or with mild symptoms. This early detection & cure was possible due to rigorous implementation of Covid-19 protocols and regular testing of officials/staff at periodic intervals and strict contact tracing mechanism and sanitisation procedure," the press statement read.

Today, as a hearing was underway in the top Court, the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde told the Attorney General for India,

"Today marks 71 years since the functioning of the Supreme Court. We must mark this day"

Access Copy of Press Release