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COVID-19 Impact: Supreme Court, Delhi High Court to only hear 'urgent matters' from March 16

The notification also specified that the courts intended to restrict the entry of people into the courtroom unless it was absolutely necessary.

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Starting March 16, the Supreme Court will only hear matters that are "urgent" and no persons except the lawyers concerned will be allowed inside the courtrooms. Furthermore, only six Division Benches of the top court will function from March 16 onwards, instead of the usual 14 Benches. The decision was taken by the Supreme Court in the wake of the widespread coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) outbreak.

The top court's officials met at Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde's residence on March 12-13 to ponder over the steps that need to be taken in the wake of the virus outbreak. According to reports, the officials took cognizance of the advisory that mass gatherings and public meetings should be avoided and social exclusion maximised in order to mitigate the chance of the disease spreading. This was also especially because, on March 5, the World Health Organisation had declared the coronavirus outbreak as a 'global pandemic'.

In light of this, the top court has decided to somewhat limit interactions as far as possible without suspending the core democratic institutions of the country. The Supreme Court's notification was issued by Secretary-General Sanjeev S Kalgaonkar, who said that it has been decided that the functioning of the court will be restricted to urgent matters with "such a number of Benches as may be found appropriate".

"On reviewing the advisory issued by the Government of India and in view of the opinion of public health experts including medical professionals and also considering the safety and welfare of all the visitors, litigants, lawyers, court staff, security, maintenance and support staff, student interns and media professionals, the Competent Authority has been pleased to direct that the functioning of the courts shall be restricted to urgent matters with such a number of Benches as may be found appropriate," the notification read.

The notification also specified that the court intended to restrict the entry of people into the courtroom unless it was absolutely necessary.

"It is hereby notified that no persons except the lawyers who are going to act in the matter, that is either for argument or for making oral submissions or to assist along with one litigant only, shall be permitted into the courtroom," the notification read, adding that the mentioning of the matters for the urgent hearing will be made only before the mentioning officer.

Soon after the Supreme Court made this announcement, the Delhi High Court also issued a similar directive after an emergency meeting. According to the new instructions of the Delhi High Court, only urgent matters will be heard from March 16 and the personal appearance of parties (litigants) was discouraged unless it was indispensable, to avoid crowding. To this end, video-conferencing facilities will be installed inside the courtrooms for optimum effectiveness.

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