The Telangana High Court will sit only three days a week until further orders as a precautionary measure to prevent spread of the virus.
One division bench and four single judge benches will conduct court proceedings on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The Court will take up only urgent matters such as bail petitions, stay applications, extension of stay and other cases emanating from any impugned order passed after February 15 this year.
This an other similar decision were taken by a Full Court meeting, chaired by Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan that took stock of the prevailing situation in the country, particularly in Telangana State, in view of spread of Coronavirus and took various decisions.
The Chief Justice later had a video conference with all the unit heads of district courts and gave instructions for taking steps to reduce footfalls in the courts and not to insist upon presence of the accused and so on.
Thermal screening of all the persons attending the court, including the judges, will be done at the entrance. The court has asked the state government to provide one thermal screening machine so as to enable screening of the litigants, counsels and the Judges. No advocates, whose matters are not listed, and no litigant will be permitted to attend the court until further orders.
After the Full Court meeting, CJ Chauhan informed the counsels, who are present in the first court hall, about the reasons for taking such a decision for the next three weeks, the situation in Telangana and in the entire country. “There are some confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Hyderabad and let us not get more cases. I want only 100 people to be in the Court on the three working days,” the CJ said.