Chhattisgarh High Court To Hear Cases Only Through VC, Subordinate Courts In The State To Function On Rotational Basis

Owing to the sudden surge in COVID-19 cases, the Chhattisgarh High Court on Monday (05th April) issued an official order directing that Judicial Proceedings of the High Court shall be conducted only through video conferencing w.e.f. 07th April 2021. There would be as many benches as directed by the Chief Justice as per the requirement of the Roaster and the fresh filing would continue, however, a soft copy of the petition/memo of appeal shall have to be supplied along with the physical filing. Advocates have been requested to enter HC premises only if they have to file cases or their case is listed. Order regarding Subordinate Courts In Durg, Raipur and Bilaspur, 2 Courts of HJS level and 4 Courts of Lower Judicial level have been allowed to function on a rotational basis and filing of fresh cases shall continue to take place. Further, in stations having 3 or less than 3 courts, all the courts shall continue to function and in all other stations 50% of HJS Courts and 50% of Lower Judiciary Courts have been allowed to function on rotational basis. The Order also states that the cases should be taken up by the Courts in such a manner so that there is less congestion in the Courtroom while maintaining social and individual distance. District and Sessions Judge/Principal Judge/Judge of the family Court/Judge Commercial Court/Special Judge (SC/ST), Member Judge (Industrial Court), Judge Labour Court have been directed to deploy a requisite number of staff to get the work done while maintaining social distance. They have also been directed to see to it that COVID-19 Protocols, such as wearing of masks, 2 feet distance etc are maintained within the Court premises. Similar decisions of suspending physical hearings in High Courts and district courts have been taken recently by respective High Courts owing to the sudden surge in covid-19 cases in various States. The Patna High Court has decided to conduct complete functioning of the Court "exclusively through virtual mode" from 6th April to 17th April 2021 owing to the recent surge in covid-19 cases in the State. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Monday decided to keep in abeyance its plan to resume physical hearing of cases till April 18 by declaring that the physical hearings in the High Court, district courts and tribunals in the Union Territory shall be conducted strictly through virtual mode. Similarly, the Bombay High Court also modified its SOP which further notifies that Bombay High Court at its principal seat in Mumbai will hear criminal matters physically, while civil matters will be taken up through video conferencing. It was also decided that the CJ's court will function in a hybrid format, and hear matters, both, physically and virtually. Additionally, Madhya Pradesh High Court also issued additional SOPs for the functioning of the High Court and subordinate courts on Saturday. The said SOPs came into effect on Monday. Click Here To Read Notice

Chhattisgarh High Court To Hear Cases Only Through VC, Subordinate Courts In The State To Function On Rotational Basis

Sparsh Upadhyay

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