Kerala High Court To Restore Physical Sitting From November 22

The Kerala High Court has decided to restore physical sitting w.e.f 22.11.2021, Monday. A notice issued in this regard has laid down certain conditions to be followed during physical proceedings:

• No more than 15 persons at a time will be permitted inside each Court Hall. A sufficient number of chairs wi.ll be provided in the corridors and wherever Advocates congregate. Social distancing should be ensured in all such places.
• Advocates who are appearing in the physical courts shall wear coat and neck-band as per the Rules.
• The mode of conducting Court sitting through video conference will be optional to lawyers and the litigants, and if anyone opts so, it will be shown in the cause list itself. Such requests will also be entertained at the commencement of sitting on each day. 
• When hearing through video conference is opted by an Advocate or Party,  either as indicated in cause list or as mentioned at the commencement of Sitting and the other Advocates or parties are physically present, the case would be heard in a hybrid manner.
• Advocates' clerks will be permitted to come to the Courtrooms to place and take back their files, but the use of the Advocates' clerks.
• Association hall will be subject to the restrictions already in place.
• Entry to the Courtroom will be permitted only to the persons who have received both doses of Covid vaccination and in order to ensure the same , the certificate issued by the Government will be verified. In the case of Advocates, in the absence of the certificate of the Government, the certificate issued by the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association will be accepted.
• None other than Advocates, Party-in-person and Clerks, will be allowed physical entry to the premises of the Court, except with the permission of the court concerned. 
• Guidelines and other norms issued by the Government and other authorities from time to time as to social distancing, sanitization etc., will have to be strictly adhered to and crowding will not be permitted in and around the Court premises.