The Delhi High Court on Friday issued fresh guidelines and standard operating procedure in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which shall be followed by court staff, advocates, litigants and other visitors coming to the premises on the resumption of physical hearings.
The fresh guidelines, signed by Delhi High Court Registrar Manoj Jain, stated, ”Advocates and authorized court clerks of the Advocates who submit a self-declaration form and display/show their identity card while entering the court buildings, issued by the Bar Council of Delhi/Delhi High Court Bar Association shall be permitted to enter the court buildings.”
The guidelines further mention that litigants, who are required to attend court proceedings, shall be permitted to enter court buildings if his/her entry pass form is duly certified and identified by his/her lawyer.
Meanwhile, last week, the administration of the Delhi High Court partially modified its January 14 circular on the resumption of physical hearings, by clarifying that a hybrid system is being adopted to permit both physical and virtual hearings.
The Court is working on a hybrid provision, enabling one side to be present in court and the other can opt for virtual hearing. For the time being, lawyers have an option to opt for virtual hearings. A number of petitions were filed in the Supreme Court after some sections of the Bar showed concern over the High Court’s earlier decision to resume physical hearings from January 18 for some Benches of the Court.
The Apex Court had declined to interfere with Chief Justice S.A. Bobde “trusting” that the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Justice D.N. Patel, “will do the needful”.
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