Coronavirus: All matters pending before Delhi HC, district courts deferred till May 15

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday took suo moto cognisance of the lockdown announced to prevent the spread of coronavirus and deferred all matters pending before it and all the district courts in the national capital till May 15 or until further orders.

Coram of Chief Justice of Delhi, Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh took suo moto cognisance of the circumstances and deferred all matters pending before High Court and subordinate courts, except where any orders to the contrary have been passed by the Supreme Court in any particular matter, during the intervening period.

The High Court also suspended the work of all district courts till April 15 and directed that the respective District and Sessions Judges may also permit judges and other staff officials to work from home, wherever possible.

"Needless to clarify that in case, the aforesaid extension of interim order causes any hardship of an extreme nature to a party to such proceeding, they would be at liberty to seek appropriate relief, as may be advised," the court observed.

This order be uploaded on the website of this court and be conveyed to all the Standing Counsel, UOI, GNCTD, DDA, civic authorities, Delhi High Court Bar Association, all the other Bar Associations of Delhi, as well as to all District Courts subordinate to this court, it stated.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court had issued several advisories in the wake of the coronavirus spread. The court had suspended all the proceedings in Delhi High Court and district courts till April 4 except urgent matters only.

The Delhi High Court's order stated that the central government, had on March 24, issued order in which strong measures have been enforced to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and a nationwide lockdown has been declared for a period of 21 days from March 25.

In view of the lockdown in Delhi and the extremely limited functioning of courts, routine matters have been adjourned en bloc to particular dates in the month of April, the court said.

"Thus, advocates and litigants have not been in a position to appear in the said matters, including those where stay/bails/paroles have been granted by this court or the courts subordinate to this court. As a result, interim orders operating in favour of parties have expired or will expire on or after March 16, 2020," it said.