In view of the steady rise in COVID-19 cases in the Capital, the Delhi High Court will continue hearing cases through the videoconferencing mode till February 11, it said in an order.
The order issued by Registrar General Manoj Jain on January 12 also stated that the district courts in the Capital would also hear matters only through the videoconferencing mode till then.
“In continuation of this court’s office order dated December 30, 2021, as directed by the Chief Justice, the existing system of hearing of cases in this court [including the courts of Registrar and Joint Registrar (Judicial)] as well as in the district courts in Delhi shall continue till February 11, 2022,” Mr. Jain said in the order.
On December 30, the High Court had decided to shift to the virtual mode because of the “sudden spurt in COVID-19 cases” and the subsequent ‘yellow alert’ declared by the government in the Capital.
Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, the courts here started holding proceedings through videoconference and were hearing only cases on urgent issues. They restarted complete physical functioning from March 15, 2021, but had to shift to virtual mode again during the second wave of the pandemic. After the end of the second wave, the courts again resumed physical functioning, which has yet again been interrupted by the current spike in infections.
