SC to continue functioning for extreme urgent cases

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a three-week nationwide lockdown, the Supreme Court on Thursday issued a circular and said the court will continue to hear matters through video conferencing involving extreme urgency, till further orders.

"For all matters involving extreme urgency, the Advocate on Record (AOR)/party-in-person is first required to file the petition or miscellaneous application, preferably through the e-filing mode available on the SC website," the top court said in its circular.

The court requested the AOR/party-in-person to mention their alternative Skype, FaceTime or WhatsApp contact details to obviate the inconvenience that may be faced due to unforeseen linkage issues of video conferencing.

"Since the prevailing situation demands that persons be discouraged from undertaking any kind of journey/travel the AORs/Parties-in-persons are advised to refrain from exercising the option of participating in the hearing through video conferencing link facility available at the SC premises for the present," the circular added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.