The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition that sought resumption of physical hearing of cases and reopening of advocate chambers on court premises. The court said that it was an uninformed petition.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice S. Ananthi observed that the petitioner must be reminded that the entirety of the COVID-19 lockdown and the restrictions clamped by the State in the wake of the second surge had not been lifted.
There was no conclusive scientific opinion on when a third or a subsequent surge might arise and the numbers of positive cases in the neighbouring States were at an alarming level in the past few days, the judges said.
Further, the judges said that the court had continuously warned that in such a situation one must exercise caution. The second wave of the pandemic created a havoc. The country was caught unawares.
Experts had advised that the only protection was completion of vaccination so that even if the virus attacked an individual, the chance of fatality would stand reduced. The courts had been substantially opened and virtual hearings were being conducted, the judges said.
As far as the virtual hearing was concerned, the judges said that the performance at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court appeared to be better than at the Principal Bench in Chennai and some form of physical hearing was made possible through permission.
The judges said that petitions of this kind should be avoided, and the court should be allowed to concentrate on matters that required attention. The court dismissed the petition filed by advocate Ukkarapandiyan of Madurai. The petitioner’s plea to reopen advocate chambers was also turned down.
