NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, JULY 14
With the number of coronavirus positive cases on the premises of the Gujarat High Court rising to 17 from seven reported last week, its chief justice on Tuesday ordered listing for hearing only fresh matters of urgent nature from Wednesday to Friday this week.
The judicial functioning of the HC was suspended for three days last week after the detection of seven cases.
Chief Justice Vikram Nath said in his order that the scenario at the high court has further worsened with a total 17 persons testing positive so far for COVID-19, stated a circular issued by the Registrar General of the High Court.
Chief Justice Nath also said the possibility of this number rising further cannot be overlooked while addressing the future course of action.
He ordered listing of only fresh matters of urgent nature and not taking up pending matters filed before or during the lockdown period unless the concerned advocates moved urgency notes for them during the given period.
In view of the recent developments and the need to strike a balance between the interests of all the stakeholders, only fresh matters of urgent nature like those relating to bails, parole-furlough matters, Habeas Corpus, detention, and urgent fresh civil matters shall be listed during this period, the order said.
Pending matters that have been filed before or during the lockdown will not be listed unless a note explaining the urgency is moved by the concerned advocates, he said.
“The pandemic of COVID-19 has taken a grip over the entire world and resumption of normalcy in these trying times is very difficult,” chief justice Nath observed.
With the imposition of lockdown, the high court had reduced the number of benches and was entertaining only extremely urgent cases.
But with the lockdown relaxed and with the number of fresh cases being filed increasing, the court slowly started listing all matters before the various benches and nearly all the judges were functioning using the video-conferencing facility.
