The High Court of Jharkhand while hearing a Criminal Appeal addressed the issue of interim reliefs that have expired or would expire between 16th March and 14th April, 2020, and the possibility of the Courts being flooded with applications for extension of such orders, when the Nationwide lockdown ends on 14th April 2020.
The Nationwide lockdown was imposed on 24th March for 21 days which is supposed to end on 14th April 2020. There are various interim orders which may have expired in the duration of these 21 days.
Once the lockdown ends on 14th April 2020, petitions may be filed by persons in whose favour such interim reliefs were granted, and which have lapsed during the lockdown.
A three-judge Bench of the Court comprising of the Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan, Justice Sujit Narayan and Justice Ananda Sen, ordered that all the interim orders will extend till 30th April 2020, other than the cases where interim relief was granted without giving any specific date or the cases where Supreme Court of India has given any direction.
The extension will apply to all interim orders passed in various civil and criminal cases including appeals, writ petitions and miscellaneous cases filed in the High Court and also to the Civil Courts in Jharkhand.
The parties are however allowed to approach the Court in case of urgent matters.
The Court also directed that the order should be uploaded on the website of the High Court and communicated to the following :
- The Advocate General
- Assistant Solicitor General of India
- Bar Council of the State
- The Advocate Associations’ of the High Court
- Subordinate courts.
The Order of extension has been made due to the uncommon situation that is prevailing in not just the State but also the Country and the world because of the menace of coronavirus, in order to ensure that lockdown is successful and social distancing is maintained.
-India Legal Bureau