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Updated August 31st, 2021 at 15:13 IST

Delhi High Court resumes limited physical hearings after 5 months amid COVID-19

Delhi High Court After a gap of almost five months has resumed limited physical hearings on Tuesday, August 31, which were suspended since April 8.

Reported by: Nikita Bishay
Delhi High Court
Credits: Unsplash | Image:self
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After a gap of almost five months, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday, August 31 has resumed its physical hearing, while the nation fights with the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier, the physical hearings were suspended due to the second wave of Coronavirus and were extended several times. The Delhi HC stopped functioning last year after the nation was struck by the COVID-pandemic. Since then, urgent cases were taken by video-conferencing followed by limited physical hearings done by limited benches

Delhi High Court resumes physical hearing

Adhering to its notification, Delhi High Court started its limited physical hearings on Tuesday after it was suspended on April 8, 2021. The hearings were suspended till April 23, 2021, and were later extended for several further dates. Also, physical hearings in the district courts have resumed in a graded manner. 

Thereafter, the division bench headed by Delhi High Court Chief Justice DN Patel along with two other division benches were seen holding a physical hearing on Tuesday. Also, seven single judge benches conducted proceedings in a physical mode. 

However, the court will also allow all the advocates as well as the petitioners to choose virtual hearings in case they don't want to attend physical court proceedings. In that case, if a request is made for a hybrid or video conference hearing, the court may allow it. 

Furthermore, a roster will be also prepared so that every Registrar and Joint Registrar can hold physical court on alternate days while the others will be able to continue to hold video conferencing as per the existing arrangement.

Delhi High Court's previous notification

Earlier on August 12, the Delhi High Court issued a notification stating that physical hearings will be resumed from September 6 followed by the district courts on August 31. However, after modifications, the Delhi HC resumed from Tuesday onwards. 

The previous notification reads,

"The Hon'ble Full Court has further been pleased to resolve that physical hearings in the District Courts in Delhi be resumed in a restricted manner w.e.f. 31.08.2021, provided the scale and magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic in the NCT of Delhi remains well under control."

(With ANI inputs)
(Image: Unsplash)

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Published August 31st, 2021 at 15:13 IST

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