The High Court, district courts and trial courts across Karnataka will commence limited functioning from June 1, said the Karnataka High Court.
A Standard Operating Procedure for the functioning of courts will be issued on May 26, a notification issued by the High Court on Saturday stated. The SOP will be published on the official website of the High Court.
On Tuesday, the senior judges of the High Court will convene a meeting via video-conference with the office bearers of bar associations in the state and urged the members of the bar to send queries on the SoP issued by the High Court to the Registrar General of the High Court by 11 am on May 27.
On March 19, the Karnataka High Court stopped the entry of litigants in courts across the state following the outbreak of coronavirus cases in India.
Following this, judicial proceedings in the courts were held for half a day and only cases of 'extreme urgency' were taken up for hearing. This move was aimed at restricting the number of lawyers and litigants arriving in the court.
The sittings in the High Court’s three benches at Bengaluru, Dharward and Kalaburagi were held from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm and a lesser number of benches were active during the lockdown period.
Courts, however, have remained functional in the state and the Karnataka High Court, in particular, was praised for its intervention on the issue of migrant workers in Karnataka. Following the High Court's decision to ask for clarity from the Karnataka Labour Secretary and Chief Secretary about making migrant workers pay for train fares, the Karnataka government decided to pay the train fares of migrant workers leaving the state.
Karnataka has so far reported 1,959 coronavirus cases, including 216 on Saturday, the highest single-day spike recorded so far.
However, since most of the new cases are returnees from other states, officials are confident that it will not lead to a fresh wave of cases since those returning from other states are quarantined in hotels before being shifted to designated hospitals after the test results arrive.