Delhi HC, district courts suspend operations till Apr 4, urgent matters via video conference

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Monday suspended its functioning as well as of district courts here till April 4 in view of coronavirus threat.

The matters of extreme urgency will have to be mentioned before the registrar or joint registrar telephonically and hearing will take place through video conferencing.

The high court also said that the limitation period for any court proceeding would not be considered from March 23 till April 4, 2020 subject to further orders. Period of limitation means the time period under which a suit, appeal or application has to be filed.

The decision, taken by an eight-judge committee headed by Chief Justice D N Patel, was communicated in a notification issued by the high court's Registrar General.

"The functioning of this court as well as the courts subordinate thereto is hereby suspended till April 4, 2020," the notification said.

It noted that the bar leaders have assured full cooperation in this regard.

Regarding the functioning of trial court, the high court directed the district and sessions judges to prepare a roaster of judicial officers for dealing with remand proceedings related to fresh arrests.

"For fresh matters of extreme urgency, one administrative officer (judicial) be nominated in each district who can be contacted telephonically by the advocate/ party," it said, adding that the matters which are already fixed up to April 4 be adjourned to subsequent dates and the information uploaded on the courts' websites.

The high court said Delhi Judicial Academy shall suspend all its training programmes and court attachments till April 4.

It said "'lockdown/ suspension of work' of courts shall be treated as 'closure' within the meaning of the explanation appended to Section 4 of the Limitation Act, 1963 and other enabling provisions of the Act and other Statutes, as may be applicable to court proceedings. Thus, limitation for any court proceeding shall not run with effect from March 23 till April 4, 2020 subject to further orders."

The high court on March 13, 16 and 20 put certain restrictions on its functioning to contain the spread of coronavirus by limiting the number of benches and taking up only urgent matters.

PTI