Delhi HC extends suspension of functioning of High Court, subordinate courts till May 3

Delhi High Court on Wednesday extended the suspension of the functioning of the High Court and its subordinate courts till May 3, when the extended lockdown is scheduled to end.

"The Administrative and General Supervision Committee of this Court has been pleased to order that the functioning of the Courts subordinate to Delhi High Court shall continue to remain suspended till May 3, 2020, on the same terms," Delhi High Court Registrar General Manoj Jain said in an order.

This comes a day after the coronavirus lockdown was extended till May 3. Earlier, Delhi High Court had suspended the functioning of the High Court and Delhi's district courts till April 15.

"It is further ordered that the matters listed between April 16 and May 2 in the subordinate courts be also adjourned en bloc and information in this regard be uploaded on the District Court website," the order said.

"All hearings be done preferably through video-conferencing which would automatically result in decongestion in court complexes. All the District and Sessions Judges shall ensure that Video-conferencing is done through 'Cisco WebEx'," it said.

The order said that each District and Sessions Judge would be at liberty to take appropriate steps to personally ensure that the mechsm of mentioning of urgent matters in the concerned district is quick and efficient and depute judicial officers for hearing the matters, related to bail and urgent civil/injunction cases, corresponding to the need and requirement.

"For any hearing taking place within the court complex, it should be ensured that the norm of social distancing is scrupulously adhered to," it added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the extension of the lockdown in a televised address to the nation on Tuesday. And the 21-day lockdown which was slated to end yesterday was extended till May 3.

( With inputs from ANI )