Delhi HC cancels month-long summer break, Court to work in June

The Delhi High Court on Thursday became the second High Court in the country to suspend the month-long summer break from Court hearings and decided to function as usual during the month of June 2020.

The decision was taken unanimously by all the judges of the High Court stating that "the Court has to be mindful and cognizant of the difficulties faced by litigants on account of the lockdown and the consequently suspended functioning of the Delhi High Court and the subordinate courts".

The High Court and all the District Courts in Delhi have only been taking up matters of extremely urgent nature during the nation-wide lockdown imposed in the country. The relevant portion of the High Court resolution reads. Since during the period of suspension of work, the hearing is limited to the matters of extremely urgent nature or urgent nature, there is the negligible fresh filing of cases, lesser disposal and corresponding escalation in arrears, resulting in extreme hardship to litigants.

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"In view of the severe hardship faced by the litigants due to the prevailing pandemic of COVID-19 that has impaired the functioning of the courts, it has been unanimously resolved by the Full Court that to make up for the loss of court working hours and to ensure restoration of normalcy in the functioning of the courts at the earliest.

Modifying the resolution of the Full Court dated 16.09.2019, declaring the period of the Summer vacations for Delhi HC and the Courts subordinate thereto in the month of June 2020, this Courts shall continue functioning during the entire month of June i.e. from 01.06.2020 to 30.06.2020.

It is hoped and expected that members of the Bar shall extend their full cooperation in making the functioning of the courts meaningful and purposeful during the month of June 2020."

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Courts hearing urgent matters amid lockdown

The Courts during the lockdown period have restricted their functioning to only hearing cases directly related to the global pandemic or affecting the life and liberty of any citizen. Several PILs dealing with a variety of issues concerning the COVID outbreak as well as bail pleas of undertrial accused have been the top-most priority of the Courts. Pendency of cases has been a pressing issue in all courts across the country for decades and the lockdown of the country due to the pandemic has, in effect further increased the backlog of cases the Court is unable to take up due to its restricted functioning.

The Court has come forth and made a plea to the members of the Bar to extend their full cooperation in making the functioning of the Court in June productive. Telangana High Court had also recently taken a decision to function during the summer break.

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(Image: PTI)