HC to hold proceedings through videoconferencing

Court decides to close all halls for sanitisation

20/04/2020, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

The Madras High Court on Sunday decided that it shall close down all its court halls for sanitisation and that judicial proceedings in extremely urgent cases shall henceforth be held only through videoconferencing until further orders.

Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi took the decision after a Law Office staff tested positive for COVID-19 after initial confusions over him having tested positive in the first test and negative in the confirmatory test.

Employee tests positive

Two judges and law officers, who were present in the court on Wednesday and Thursday, when the staff had come to court, were tested on Saturday. Steps have also been taken to get the court employees tested on Monday.

A circular issued by Registrar General C. Kumarappan on Sunday read: “All judicial functioning by the respective honourable judges, as per the roster assigned, will take place only through video conferencing until further orders.

“The court halls will not be accessible for any judicial function during the lockdown period to keep the court halls sanitised and hygienically fit for future use.” The court had already decided to extend till May 3 the restricted functioning of courts in the State.

It was also decided that the summer vacation due next month for the High Court as well as all trial courts in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry would stand postponed sine die and that the courts would function in May too to compensate loss of work hours now.

The Madras High Court has decided to commence e-filing of cases from Wednesday. It will be entertaining bail petitions alone through the electronic mode.