The Kerala High Court Advocates Association (KHCAA) on Saturday requested Chief Justice S Manikumar to discontinue the physical sittings and filings till June 30 after a policeman, who had visited the court three days ago, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
The association said the court's reopening may be considered based on results of tests of primary contacts of the policeman. "The consideration of admission matters on video conferencing can be continued," the association wrote in the letter to the Chief Justice.
The police officer of Kalamassery police station had visited the High Court on Wednesday. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Thursday.
Based on reports regarding his contacts in the High Court, some liaison officers of Advocate General Office and the Special GP (Vigilance) have been asked to go into quarantine and one of the judges of the High Court has also decided to go into quarantine.
"While the possibilities of further contacts for the officer who came to the Court are less, we may not be able to exhaustively list out all possible contacts of the said person," the KHCAA office-bearers said in the letter.
"Further, secondary contacts and primary contacts of the persons who are now in quarantine also cannot be assessed with any kind of certainty. In such circumstances, continuing with physical sitting would be very risky at this juncture," the KHCAA said, requesting the Chief Justice to discontinue the physical sittings and physical filings in the High Court till June 30.
"To enable consideration of all, a few division benches also may be constituted on video conferencing," the association suggested.
After the Civil Police Officer of Kalamassery Police station tested positive for novel coronavirus, 59 police officers of the station, too, have been sent into quarantine. The officer had been on duty at a COVID-19 Care Centre.
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