CJI Chandrachud announces free WiFi facility for lawyers, others visiting SC
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud on Monday said the first five courtrooms in the Supreme Court have become WiFi-enabled and there will be no law books and papers in all the courtrooms.
Announcing the major step towards the top court's digitisation, the CJI said, "Now that the books have gone, it is not that we will not be relying on books."
"We have made courts 1 to 5 WiFi-enabled. The bar rooms are WiFi-enabled as well. All courtrooms will now be like that -- no books and papers -- which is not to say that we will not rely on books and papers at all," the CJI said.
"Please give me the feedback whether everything is working well," Justice Chandrachud said at the outset of the proceedings.
The top court reopened on Monday after the six-week summer vacation.
The court has made the free WiFi facility available for all lawyers, litigants and mediapersons, along with other stakeholders visiting the premises.
The step was taken as part of the e-initiatives and the facility can be availed by logging in to "SCI WiFi".
The user has to enter his mobile number, get a one-time password (OTP) and use it for authentication, an apex court official said.
In a circular, the court said, "As part of the e-initiatives in the Supreme Court of India, the facility of free Wi-Fi is made available for advocates, litigants, mediapersons and other stakeholders visiting the Supreme Court of India.
"For the present, this facility will be available at the Chief Justice's Court, Court
Nos. 2 to 5, including corridor and Plaza in front, both waiting areas in front of plaza
canteen and Press Lounge-I and II, with effect from 03.07.2023."
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SC to hear pleas for reviewing wages of priests, temple staff
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the wages and other benefits given to priests, 'sevadars' and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta is likely to hear the PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, seeks directions to the Centre and states to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the remuneration and other benefits given to the priests and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
"Petitioner also seeks a declaration that priests and temple staff are employee' under Section 2(k) of the Code on Wages, 2019. Petitioner submits that once the State assumes the administrative, economic and financial control over temples, an employer-employee relationship arises and denial of dignified wages to priests and temple staff violates the right to livelihood guaranteed under Article 21," it said.
Upadhyay said the cause of action accrued on April 4, when he went to Varanasi to attend a public programme and after performing 'Rudrabhishek' in the Kashi Vishwanath temple, which is controlled by the state, he came to know that even the minimum wages to live with dignity are not given to the priests and temple staff.
"Recently, in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, priests and temple staff organised a large-scale protest demanding the minimum wages. Priests and temple staff are not getting even the minimum wage prescribed by the State for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. This is a systemic exploitation. State is acting as a model employer through the endowments department, but violating the minimum wages Act and the directive principles of state policy (Article 43)," it said.
The plea further said the continued refusal to meet the minimum wages with the 2026 inflation-adjusted cost of living index has forced the petitioner to seek judicial intervention to prevent the further marginalisation of priests and temple staff.
Upadhyay further said the precarious nature of livelihood was starkly exposed on February 7, 2025, when a Tamil Nadu department issued a circular at the 'Dandayuthapani Swami Temple' in Madurai, strictly prohibiting priests from accepting 'dakshina' in 'aarti plates'.
"It is necessary to state that priests in such temples often receive no formal salary from the State and rely entirely on 'Dakshina'; the State's administrative order directly threatened them with starvation. Although withdrawn due to public outrage, the incident highlights the State's arbitrary power over the survival of the priests. This is also a bitter truth that States are controlling lakhs of temples but not a single mosque or church," the PIL claimed.
The petition, alternatively, sought direction to the Centre and states to take appropriate steps for the welfare of priests, sevadars and other temple staff in the spirit of the Allahabad High Court's earlier judgments.
