Amid the coronavirus pandemic and rising number of positive cases in India, the courts across the nation are also taking steps to limit footfall and are stepping up measures to take precautions to keep the infection from spreading.
Only six of the 15 benches of the Supreme Court will be sitting and only 12 matters each will be taken up on Monday.
Lawyers, litigants and media personnel were thermal-screened in the Supreme Court amid the coronavirus scare.
The top court has allowed only restricted entry of lawyers, litigants and journalists in the courtroom.
The Karnataka High Court issued directions stating that 'only urgent matters' will be taken up in the court. The same directive was issued to district and trial courts in the state.
"The High of Karnataka in its principal seat at Bengaluru and benches at Dharwad and Kalaburagi will take up only urgent matters," read a notification by the High Court. It added that only those matters listed as urgent will be taken up if all contesting parties on both sides consent for taking up matters. Dates will be assigned for remaining matters listed.
Similar directives were issued by High Courts located in Patna, Guwahati, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur and in the national capital New Delhi. Only urgent matters are being taken up at these courts.
The High Court of Telangana said that will take up only urgent matters, namely bail applications, interlocutory applications and dire urgent matters, where stay is required. One division bench and four single judge benches will function only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week, until further orders.
The Delhi High Court on Monday said it will issue more directions about precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Similarly, officials in Kerala are planning to restrict access to the Kerala High Court in Kochi.
Justice SM Subramaniam of Madras HC has requested lawyers, litigants and others suffering from cold, cough & fever not to enter inside his court hall no.35. Has made it clear that no case shall be posted under the caption 'For dismissal' till March 31 @THChennai pic.twitter.com/xkfme9Vdx9
— Mohamed Imranullah S (@imranhindu) March 16, 2020
Visitors at the Karnataka High Court will be thermally screened starting Tuesday.
The Union Health Ministry on Monday reported 110 cases of COVID-19 in the country. The number has steadily risen over the last three days prompting measures to be taken to reduce the mass gathering of people in parts of the country. Till date, two deaths have been reported — a 76-year-old man in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi and a 68-year-old woman in New Delhi.
With inputs from PTI