A woman office assistant attached to a Judicial Magistrate Court at Sankarankovil in Tenkasi district has tested positive for COVID-19. All those who had come in contact with her, including the magistrate, have been quarantined and tested.
Immediately after the woman tested positive on Tuesday, Tirunelveli Principal District Judge A. Nazir Ahamed informed the Registrar General of the Madras High Court C. Kumarappan and also the Additional Registrar General of the Madurai Bench of the High Court about the incident.
The communication stated that an inquiry by Sankarankovil Sub-udge had revealed that the woman’s father tested positive for COVID-19 on April 11. However, before his test results were out, she ended up attending the office of the magistrate on April 8 and 9.
“I assure that if any of the staff members or judicial officers test positive in future, I would take necessary action for quarantine and also report the same to the honourable High Court,” the Principal District Judge's communication read.
In the meantime, the Tamil Nadu Judicial Employees Association (TNJEA) has made a representation to the High Court to instruct all judicial officers in the State to insist upon the presence of court staff only if there was a necessity and not otherwise.
An office-bearer of the association said, the woman office assistant was a widow and a mother of two children. She had travelled along with four other women court staff in an autorickshaw to attend the magistrate’s court on April 8 and 9.
“Now all four of those court employees and the autorickshaw driver have been quarantined. These incidents could have been avoided if the High Court’s circular, to summon court staff only to hear extremely urgent cases, had been adhered to in letter and spirit,” he said.
