India News | Delhi HC Resumes Full-fledged Physical Hearings
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Delhi High Court Wednesday resumed full-fledged physical functioning which was earlier restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Delhi, Mar 2 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Wednesday resumed full-fledged physical functioning which was earlier restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All the judges started holding physical hearings while continuing the hybrid system which gives an option to the parties and the advocates to appear virtually through the video conferencing platform.
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Since March 2020, the high court has been holding proceedings through video conferencing following the outbreak of COVID-19, and subsequently, few benches started holding physical courts every day on rotation basis.
The high court had resumed physical hearings from November 22 last year but they were suspended on December 30 and a decision was taken to shift to the virtual mode on account of the third wave of the virus.
It had started graded physical functioning last month and advised all stakeholders to get themselves vaccinated at the earliest.
Before that, complete physical hearings were resumed from March 15, 2021 but on April 8, 2021, it was ordered that matters would be taken up through virtual mode only on account of the second wave.
Last year, the high court had issued its standard operating procedure (SOP) to regulate the entry of lawyers and litigants inside the court building and said that those displaying symptoms of flu, fever, and cough shall not be allowed.
In the protocol issued by Registrar General Manoj Jain, the high court clarified that no litigant, who is represented by a lawyer, would be permitted entry unless there is a specific direction.
It has also said that those coming to the high court have to strictly follow social distancing norms and wear masks at all times.
The SOP also made it clear that advocates, party-in-person, and registered clerks above the age of 65 years and those suffering from co-morbidities may refrain from physically appearing in courts.
“No litigant, who is represented by an advocate, would be permitted entry unless there is specific direction by the court. The advocates, party-in-person, and registered clerks above the age of 65 years and those suffering from co-morbidities may refrain from appearing in courts. Persons displaying symptoms of flu, fever, cough, etc. shall not be permitted entry inside the court complex,” the SOP had said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)