The courtroom was ‘virtual’, and so too was the presence of the Bench and the Bar in it. The agenda was weighty and the mood serious.
But, the jury and the parties to the dispute over the three capitals had some lighter moments on Thursday.
One such thing that brought giggles into the otherwise drab proceedings was a jocular comment by noted advocate Kapil Sibal, who said: “My Lords, while the Advocate-General (S. Sriram), me and others are haggling about virtual and physical hearings, I hope the petitioners’ arguments are not virtual but real.”
Mr. Sibal, a familiar face in the courts, was arguing on behalf of the government, along with Rakesh Dwivedi and Shekhar Naphade, both senior advocates of the Supreme Court.
Logged in from his office were Mr. Sriram and his team.
When some petitioners said the government was in a hurry (to shift from Amaravati) and was in the process of constructing a guest house in 30 acres (in Visakhapatnam) while Rashtrapati Bhavan was situated in just five acres, Mr. Sriram said: “That is meant for all of us to stay when we go to Vizag. The petitioners’ assumptions are wrong.”
The hearing was brief, but there was no dearth of the courtroom humour as a battery of advocates was making its arguments on the matter that engaged some of the country’s top legal brains.
