[Covid and Courts] Telangana High Court

LiveLaw has taken an initiative to analyse the functioning of High Courts across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have taken various parameters such as the volume of cases filed, the number of cases disposed, the proactive steps taken by the High Courts, guidance to the subordinate judiciary etc. This data compilation will be an ongoing work and periodically revised with the inputs. In view of CoViD-19, there are certain limitations in data mining, and we seek our readers support to get more information into the functioning of various High Courts. We would like approach the issues positively and support the justice delivery system with creative suggestions and analysis of data. We have carried a similar review in the case of Allahabad High Court and Sikkim High Court, and will continue with the effort to cover all High Courts in India. Telangana is the youngest state in India, created on 2nd June, 2014 after it was separated from the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the five southern states in India. The Telangana High Court was established in 2019 after the bifurcation of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad which was previously functioning as the common High Court for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It has a sanctioned judge-strength of 24 judges. Covid Situation in Telangana Telangana had a total of 20,462 cases of covid positive persons as on 4th July, 2020, with 10,195 persons recovered and 283 patients dead. While the Central Government has eased restrictions to a large extent, the Telangana Government has announced extension of the existing restrictions, with minor relaxations, till 31st July, 2020. Throughout the pandemic, the High Court at Hyderabad has remained on its feet. While being mindful of the steps taken by the state government, it has also worked to ensure that maximum precautions are taken in the working of the state judiciary. A chronological series of events stating the measures undertaken by the high court, highlighting its approach, is listed in the chart below; Date Particulars 4th March, 2020 An advisory was issued by High Court in view of Covid 19 to ensure safety measures such as use of sanitizers and maintaining social distance in court premises. 16th March, 2020 A notification was releaded by the high court which ordered suspension of regular functioning in all courts in Telangana. The notification included directions given by the high court to all subordinate courts in Telangana to entertain only urgent matters including bail applications, temporary injunction applications, remand matters, etc. All other matters listed for hearing were adjourned for three weeks. Further, instructions for restricted functioning were issued, including: The presence of parties was not to be insisted upon unless extremely necessary and remand of prisoners was allowed to be done only through video conferencingCrowding in the prisons was to be avoided.Additionally, temporary medical dispensaries were established in the court complexes for employees and judicial officers and para medical personnel were deployed in all the court complexes for primary medical check-up of the entrants of court premises. Other directions for social distancing and hygiene were also issued.A dedicated team comprising of Senior Judicial Officers and Senior Ministerial Staff was constituted in each District Court complex to monitor the situation. In a separate notification, further information was released specifically regarding the High Court, including the following: The High Court would remain functional with 1 division bench and 4 single benches, which would hear cases on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.Only urgent matters would be taken up, such as bail applications, stay applications, extension of stay. Fresh cases would be taken up only if extremely urgent.Filing of the cases was allowed at the high court. However, advocates were requested to describe the nature of urgency to qualify for hearing on an urgent basis.At a time, only Advocates for 5 cases were permitted to enter the Courtroom.The high court would not pass adverse orders penalising absence of parties or advocates in cases listed for hearing. 18th March, 2020 A notice was posted on the website of the high court requesting all the entrants, including advocates, staff members and litigants, to cooperate during thermal screening at the entry points of the high court campus. 23rd March, 2020 The High Court began hearing cases through Video Conferencing (VC). 27th March, 2020 The High Court took up Suo Motu Writ Petition No: Urgent 1/2020 (In Re: Extension of Interim...

[Covid and Courts] Telangana High Court

Nausheen Khan

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