“LAWYERS WRITE TO ALLAHABAD HC CJ AGAINST RE-OPENING OF COURTS FROM 8TH MAY 2020”

A letter petition was filed in the Allahabad HC for the re-opening of Courts from 8th May 2020 because of the cause of COVID-19, to which the Allahabad HC had agreed to hear today on 8th May 2020 (Friday).

As the Notice which was issued on 4th May 2020, it says:-

“The Hon’ble Court has decided to open the courts from 8th May 2020 at Allahabad as well as at Lucknow in the two different sessions on criminal and civil matters.

The time for each session shall be from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm and from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm . While making the courts operational all protocol pertaining to social distancing shall be maintained.”

On a petition of a practicing Advocate in Allahabad HC, the order of MHA, Govt. of India is still in force and as such has not been set aside, invalidated, modified or declared inapplicable or null and void, The order which was passed by MHA and Govt. of India prevails as a precautionary measure and principle.

The Advocate also mentions that in the petition that if the courts are opened for physical appearance there is high risk of spreading COVID-19 and shall increase manifold, it is not practically possible to take utmost care and precautions as against an invisible virus and there are bound to be lapses in our vigilance.

Therefore, it was prayed in the petition that instead of re-opening of the courts and allowing the risk of COVID-19, the court may increase the strength of benches sitting in virtual courts and until the lifting of the nation-wide lockdown and the normalization of the pandemic situation, the HC of Allahabad may remain closed and continue the function of E-filing and video-conferencing hearing modes, in the interest of Justice, fair play and the society at large.

Finally, the Allahabad High Court agreed to hear the matter today on 8th May 2020 (Friday).

By Shubhi Singhal of Law College Dehradun