The Delhi High Court on Friday decided to hear only urgent matters from March 16 in the wake of the outbreak of COVID-19.
The decision was taken at an emergency meeting of the court’s eight-judge Administrative and General Supervision Committee headed by Chief Justice D.N. Patel and the President and Honorary Secretary of the Delhi High Court Bar Association “to contain the spread of pandemic COVID-19”.
An advisory was subsequently issued by the court in which it said that its functioning from March 16 shall be restricted to urgent matters and “the court master shall give dates in routine matters before the court assembles”.
It was decided in the meeting that all possible preventive and remedial measures would be taken to combat the impending threat of COVID-19, including making available sanitisers on the court premises for visitors, staff, and “particularly those manning windows where there is constant public dealing”. It was also decided that members of the Bar may not issue visitors’ pass and that the court would not insist on the personal appearance of the parties unless it is indispensable.
The High Court issued a separate advisory for regulating entry of litigants in all the district courts in the Capital.
