A bench headed by justice Abhay Oka passed the order after taking note of the trial judge’s observations that the VC system was not working properly in the Jammu court.
The court directed the registrar general to look into the matter and take “immediate steps for installing a proper system through which hearing can be conducted by using video medium or video conference”.
The court further directed the registrar general to submit a report by February 17 after deputing an expert to examine the newly installed system. The matter will come up for resumed hearing on February 21.
The development took place during the hearing of a plea filed by CBI against a Jammu trial court’s order calling for Malik’s physical presence in trial proceedings. The top court had in April 2023 stayed the order. Earlier, CBI had moved an application in the Supreme Court, seeking to transfer Malik’s trial from Jammu to a makeshift court in Delhi’s Tihar jail.
Malik need not be physically produced before the court in Jammu for trial as Tihar jail has a functional court with video-conferencing facilities, CBI had said.