A court hall in the Madras High Court as well as the chambers of two judges were sanitised on Saturday after an Office Assistant attached to State Government Pleader’s office was initially feared to have tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
However, a confirmatory test on Saturday evening found him negative for COVID-19 much to the relief of judges, lawyers, court staff, policemen and others.
Immediately after the initial report was conveyed to him on Saturday morning, Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi called for an urgent meeting of the administrative committee comprising top seven judges of the court and held discussions with them as well as officials from the health department.
Since the Office Assistant had attended court proceedings on Wednesday and Thursday when a case filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam against the restrictions imposed by the government on distribution of relief materials by volunteers was heard, it was decided to sanitise the entire court campus.
A decision was also taken to test the law officers, court staff as well as others who were present for the hearing on Wednesday and Thursday.
It was also decided to extend till May 3 a decision already taken by the court to hear extremely urgent cases through video conferencing.
Further, the summer vacation, due in May, for all courts in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry was also postponed sine die.
