India News | Patna HC Lawyers Seek Restoration of Physical Functioning of Courts

Patna, Jun 18 (PTI) Lawyers of the Patna High Court on Friday wrote to the Chief Justice highlighting the plight of advocates and litigants in the wake of curtailed functioning of judicial bodies ever since the COVID 19 pandemic struck the state.

In a letter addressed to Chief Justice Sanjay Karol, the Advocates' Association of Patna High Court urged that restoration of normal working hours, from 10.30 am to 4.15 pm, be considered from next week onwards.

The letter, signed by the association's president Yogesh Chandra Verma, has underscored that delivery of justice was already hampered because "64 per cent of posts of judges at the High Court lying vacant for a considerable period of time".

In the letter, it was also said that many lawyers have, in the wake of COVID-induced restrictions which has drastically reduced the number of cases taken up for hearing on a day, were giving up the profession and looking for other means to support their families.

The association also urged that "physical functioning" of the High Court as well as the subordinate courts since the system of video conference was "inequitable" of which only the lawyers already well-off were "reaping the benefits".

(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)