Covid effect: HC cancels physical hearing at principal bench

The physical hearing at the High Court’s Principal Bench in Bengaluru has been cancelled in view of the increasing Covid-19 positive cases in the city.

A notice issued by the Registrar-General of the High Court by order of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka stated that the number of slots for physical filing and for rectification of objections will be reduced in the next week.

Earlier, the functioning of the principal bench of the High Court in Bengaluru was suspended on Tuesday for the sanitisation of the court complex. The notification issued late on Monday night stated that the judicial/non judicial and administrative function of the Principal Bench of the High Court has been suspended for one day.

Later in the day, a detailed notice was issued by the Registrar-General of the High Court.

“During last few days, the number of cases tested positive for Covid-19 in the city of Bengaluru are multiplying. Considering the safety of members of the Bar and the Court staff, till further orders, physical hearing of the cases at the Principal Bench of High Court at Bengaluru shall stand cancelled and only those Benches which are already notified for hearing of urgent matters through Video Conferencing will function. The Benches at Dharwad and Kalaburagi shall function normally as per notified schedule,’’ the notice stated.

The notice stated that the cause list of urgent matters notified for Tuesday (June 30) will be taken up on July 1, 2020 for video conference hearing. The urgent cases which are fixed for July 1 will be listed on July 2 and July 3 for video conferencing hearing. Similarly, those who have been given appointments for physical filing of cases and for rectification of objections on June 30, can visit the court on July 3 as per slots already given on June 30.

The notice requested the advocates to send requisitions for listing of only those cases which are really extremely urgent.

“It is noticed that large number of requests are being forwarded by e-mail for listing of matters which are not really urgent. If this continues and the members of the Bar do not cooperate, it will become very difficult for the Court to function. This may result in stopping of Court functioning. Therefore, the co-operation of the members of the Bar is solicited. The requests for listing forwarded by e-mail will require 72 hours for processing instead of 48 hours as mentioned in the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP),’’ the notice stated.