Functioning of Delhi High Court, district courts restricted till June 14

 The Delhi High Court Friday decided to restrict till June 14 its functioning as also of the district courts to urgent matters only in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Administrative and General Supervision Committee of the high court, headed by Chief Justice D N Patel, decided that the restriction would be in place till June 14 and the urgent matters would continue to be heard by video conferencing.

"...the functioning of the High Court of Delhi shall continue to remain suspended till June 14," the administrative order said.

As per earlier directions, all the benches shall take up urgent matters through video conferencing as per roster notified on May 20, it said.

The mentioning of urgent matters is being done through the web link which is available from 9 AM to 10.30 AM on all working days.

The order said all the cases listed in the high court, including before the registrars and joint registrars, from June 1 to June 12 have been adjourned to corresponding dates between July 3 to August 5 respectively.

The matters listed in the district courts during this period will also be adjourned and the information will be uploaded on their website, the order said.

Earlier, fewer benches were set up to hear the urgent matters through video conferencing.

To ensure more urgent matters are taken up, it was decided that from May 22, all the judges of the high court would sit everyday to take up important cases via video conferencing.

The step was taken after the Delhi High Court and the lower courts together took up 20,726 urgent matters during the COVID-19 related lockdown from March 24 to May 19.

There are presently seven division benches and 19 single-judge benches in the high court.

Earlier, the High Court had on March 25 restricted its and district courts' functioning till April 14. It was then extended to May 3, May 17, May 23 and May 31.