The Madras High Court on Thursday relaxed restrictions imposed on physical hearing of cases in all trial courts across the State due to the threat posed by COVID-19. It enhanced the number of cases that could be listed and heard by every trial court from 10 to “at least” 20 a day from Monday.
The Administrative Committee, comprising top seven judges of the High Court, also permitted the entry of litigants as well as advocate clerks on the court campuses. The courts were allowed to let the accused surrender and entertain sureties by permitting them to enter the courts.
The decision was taken after most of the principal district judges in the State informed the Administrative Committee of unsatisfactory response to physical hearing from the lawyers because of the prohibition on the entry of litigants on the court campuses.
The committee, comprising Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Justices Vineet Kothari, R. Subbiah, M. Sathyanarayanan, N. Kirubakaran, M.M. Sundresh and T.S. Sivagnanam, interacted with the principal district judges through video conferencing before taking the decision.
Separate time slots
It, however, ordered that separate time slots should be assigned for the appearance of litigants and sureties in order to avoid overcrowding and to maintain physical distancing norms.
The restrictions were not relaxed for the taluk court in Thriuthiraipoondi alone due to certain concerns.
Similarly, the Administrative Committee refused to relax the restrictions with respect to the courts in Puducherry and Karaikal, since the Chief Judge of the Union Territory reported that the death rate due to COVID-19 had increased.
The committee further resolved that a decision on opening bar association rooms, lawyers’ chambers and canteens in the court complexes would be taken after assessing the functioning of the courts with relaxed restrictions.
It further instructed the judicial officers across the State to ensure that service of summons and court notices were done by bailiffs and process servers using the NSTEP mobile app that had been provided in smartphones issued to them recently.