DELHI HIGH COURT ISSUES ROADMAP FOR RESUMPTION OF PHYSICAL FUNCTIONING IN COVID-19 SITUATION

The Delhi High Court has issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to govern the resumption of physical hearings in court premises from September 1, 2020 onwards.

Key highlights of the SOP issued by the Hon'ble Court have been noted below.

I. Entry in the Court blocks for attending physical hearings and VC Court Rooms for VC Hearings

1) Entry into the court block, for the purposes of attending physical hearings and VC hearings shall stand restricted to –

• Only one Advocate per party whose vakalatnama is on record or who has been duly authorized by such Advocate to appear and whose case is listed for hearing that day.

• Senior Counsel engaged by any such Advocate.

• Registered Clerk only for the limited purpose of delivering heavy and bulky case filed of such Advocates at the designated point.

• Standing/Nominated counsel for any of the party/entity whose cases are listed for physical hearing that day.

• Party-in-person where such party is pursuing the case himself/herself without any legal assistance.

2) No entry in the court blocks shall be permitted to – Juniors, Interns or law students associated with the Advocate concerned; Relative of any party-in-person/litigant; Non-registered clerks.

3) No litigant, who is represented by any Advocate, would be permitted entry unless there is specific direction by the Hon’ble Court.

4) The Advocates, party-in-person and registered clerks above the age of 65 years and those suffering from comorbidities may refrain from appearing in courts.

5) Persons displaying symptoms of flu, fever, cough etc shall not be permitted entry inside the court complex.

6) Following mandatory norms are to be followed by all concerned who are permitted to enter the court building/courtroom:

• Wearing a mask at all times.

• Undergoing thermal scanning at the designated entry points and random checking inside the court blocks.

• Sanitizing the hands before/at the time of entry.

• Strict adherence to the norm of social distancing within the court complex.

• Social/physical distancing by maintaining a minimum distance of 6 feet.

• Adherence to all the directions/guidelines/SOPs/advisories issued by the Government of India and the Government of NCT of Delhi with respect to COVID-19 pandemic.

II) Court Blocks for Physical Hearing

1) Physical courts shall function from all the 3 blocks - Block-A, Block-B and Block- C.

2) The cause list shall specify in advance the courts which shall take up matters through physical hearing mode and those which shall function through video-conferencing.

3) IT branch is developing an e-solution of sending QR code to the concerned Advocate/litigant through SMS/email so that they are permitted physical access on a given day through scanning of such QR Code. Till such e-solution is developed, a copy of the cause list shall be available at the designated counter near the entry point of the particular court block.

4) As far as possible, use of lift is to be avoided for going up the first floor. Lift Operator has been directed to permit entry of maximum 3 persons at a time.

5) Once the matter is over, the learned Advocate/party-in-person shall immediately leave from the designated exit point.

III) Time slot

1) Entry time to any court block shall be regulated w.r.t. time slots mentioned in the cause list for different batches. Each batch shall consist of 10 cases. No person shall be permitted entry inside the court blocks before the designated time-slot.

2) Entry shall be restricted and regulated batch-wise in an hourly order. There would be a break between hearing of each batch of cases in order to facilitate the sanitization of the courtrooms and other areas.

IV) Arrangements Inside the Courtroom

1) Seats in each courtroom have been limited to minimum to practice social distancing.

2) Entry in the courtroom shall be permitted to only those Advocates/party-in-person whose matter is called out for hearing and for the Advocates whose item is the immediate next, subject to availability of space.

3) The display boards shall be functional for their convenience and information.

4) Ordinarily, no request for pass over shall be entertained to ensure adherence to time slots, effectively regulating the entry and orderly conduct of cases.

V) Other Facilities

1) No sitting or consumption of dry snacks and beverages etc shall be permitted inside the canteen, they will be allowed for take-away.

2) Lawyers’ chambers shall remain open as per the staggered timings proposed by the DHCBA and as approved by the High Court.

3) The Library, Bar Associations Halls, common rooms, canteens shall remain closed until further orders.

4) Oath Commissioner and typists shall be permitted to sit at the designated places on a rotational basis.

5) Court-fee Counter and Scanning facility shall be available and manned by a requisite number of officials on a rotational basis.

6) All enquiries shall be made at the Facilitation Centre.

VI) System of Mentioning

1) The existing system of mentioning urgent matters through the designated link shall be continued till further orders.

2) All the urgent matters be filed through an online e-filing module only. Reasons for urgency be very clearly specified.

3) All filing shall be accompanied with the proof of payment of requisite court fee as well as the affidavit duly attested by the Oath Commissioner. In the e-filing module, a scanned copy of the receipt of court fee/attested affidavit shall be uploaded.

4) At the time of e-filing, the concerned Advocate shall clearly mention in the prescribed slot whether such Advocate desires matter to be heard through videoconferencing or through physical mode. However, the matter shall be listed as per the earliest available slot of roster Bench concerned, depending on the option so provided.

5) Non-urgent matters shall be permitted to be filed in physical mode/hard copy also. However, such cases shall be taken up for scrutiny/processing after 72 hours of filing.

VII) Matters to be taken up by the Hon’ble Courts

1) All the Hon’ble Courts, whether conducting proceedings through physical mode or through videoconferencing, shall take up - Urgent matters; Non-urgent matters filed during the lockdown. The number of such cases shall be, however, restricted from 3-5 before each Hon’ble Bench; Regular matters where the consent for final hearing has been received from both the sides.

2) The cause-list for the Hon’ble Courts conducting proceedings through physical mode shall not ordinarily exceed 25 cases. Preference will be given to urgent matters, in case the number exceeds.

VIII) General Regulations

Medical facilities in the form of an additional Ambulance with complete infrastructure to tackle COVID-19 emergencies shall be stationed during working hours in the High Court. There shall be an earmarked room in the High Court dispensary designated as COVID-19 Isolation Room, to be used, as and when an infected/symptomatic person shall be immediately shifted to the Isolation Room till he/she is taken to the hospital, after which the Isolation Room shall be sanitized. The High Court dispensary shall depute extra medical and para-medical staff and enhance infrastructure as required.

Conclusion

After almost five months of no physical functioning due to the pandemic, five benches of the Delhi High Court shall start holding physical courts on rotational basis from September 1, 2020. The Standard Operating Procedures includes a strategized functioning of the courts system which aims to benefit the litigants without causing harm to their physical health with precautions taken at every step.