PRO-ACTIVE STEPS OF INDIAN JUDICIARY TOWARDS COVID-19

By Anant Merathia & Associates[1]

The Covid-19 pandemic has certainly caused a huge disruption in the normal functioning of the society at large. In light of this, and towards the various precautionary measures, the Indian Judiciary has through its various Circulars, Notifications and Orders has taken plenty of steps to further prevent the spreading of this virus and encouraged ‘Social Distancing’ to a large extent. The crux of the various steps taken are mentioned below:

Steps by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court being the Apex Court of the country vide its various Circulars and Notifications has provided preventive steps towards containing the spread of Covid-19. The most relevant and alleviating update being the Suo Moto Writ No. 3/2020 taken up by the Supreme Court on 23.03.2020 extending the limitation period of filing cases, irrespective of the limitation prescribed under the general law or special laws, whether condonable or not, to prevent the spread of Covid -19 exercising its power under Article 142 r/w Article 141 of the Indian Constitution. The Hon’ble Supreme Court notified that it will continue to function and will hear only urgent matters vide its Circular dated 26.03.2020. This is in fact the most important step to reduce the mobilization of people and to decrease pressure on litigants and various stakeholders in the judicial system.

Steps by Hon’ble High Court of Madras

The Hon’ble High Courts across the country immediately followed in the footsteps of the Hon’ble Apex Court and issued various Circulars and Notifications. The Hon’ble Madras High Court vide its Notification No. 103/2020 dated 17.03.2020 suspended the final hearing cause list for a period of three weeks from 18.03.2020 and stated that only matters of urgency shall be heard upon mentioning. The Chief Justice of Madras High Court convened a meeting with the Hon’ble Judges, Advocate General, Presidents and office bearers of all recognized Bar Associations in the High Court of Madras, the Chief Secretary and Health Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu on 16.03.2020 and in view of the same the Hon’ble Madras High Court on 17.03.2020 issued a notice of general awareness, Do’s and Don’ts and other preventive methods regarding the Covid-19. In another Notification No. 110/2020 dated 23.03.2020 the Hon’ble Madras High Court restricted the sitting of Judges in respective Benches to reduce the matters to only extremely urgent cases between 24.03.2020 and 09.04.2020. The Hon’ble Madras High Court also issued a circular Roc No. 1363/2020/RG dated 23.03.2020 restricting entry into the High Court premises and restricting litigants and others to reduce over-crowding in the premises and also provided that the Registry will not push for immediate rectification of defects in applications being filed and will provide the Counsels a period of three weeks to ensure sufficient time is given.

The Hon’ble Madras High Court issued another circular ROC NO. 1363/2020/RG dated 23.03.2020 thereby directing all subordinate courts to restrict movement and any monitoring process be conducted through video conferencing method. Apart from this the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Madras High Court has also through his speech on 20.03.2020 requested all to maintain discipline and to prevent crowds during this challenging time. Along with all these Notifications, recently the Madras High Court vide its Notification dated 24.03.2020 suspended all functions of High Court as well as the subordinate Courts until the 21 day lockdown period is done with and further on 26.03.2020 the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Madras High Court delivered a motivational speech to encourage people during this tough time. The Hon’ble High Court of Judicature, Madras also vide the Order dated 26.03.2020 in Suo Moto W.P. No. 7413/2020 in exercise of its powers under Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India had stated that all interim orders passed by the High Court at Madras that were subsisting as on 20.03.2020 may stand extended till 30.04.2020 unless vacated or modified earlier or until further judicial orders of the Court unless specifically dealt with by any judicial order to the contrary.

Steps by Hon’ble High Court of Telangana, Hon’ble Kerala High Court & Hon’ble High Court at Karnataka

Similarly the Hon’ble Telangana High Court, has issued a Notification Roc No. 394/SO/2020 dated 27.03.2020 stating that the High Court, subordinate courts and Tribunals working under the Control of the High Court, Telangana State Legal Services Authority , Mediation and Arbitration Centre, High Court Legal Services Committee and Telangana State Judicial Academy shall remain closed till 14.04.2020 and further notified on the same day that the Courts will take up only urgent matters on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The Hon’ble Telangana High Court is also taking stringent measures to curb the unnecessary mentioning of matters, one such example is that the Hon’ble Court imposed a fine of Rs.25,000 for mentioning a matter which required no urgency. The Hon’ble Telangana High Court has also vide its Suo moto Writ Petition No. Urgent 1/2020 provided that for any interim orders passed by the court or subordinate courts subsisting on 20.03.2020 be extended till 07.06.2020 until any further contrary orders by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. A similar stance of extending the interim stay has also been taken by the Hon’ble Kerala High Court through its Suo moto Writ No. 9400 of 2020 on 25.03.2020 for one month from the day of order. The Hon’ble High Court at Karnataka has also closed down and is hearing only urgent matters notified vide its Notification HCBB- 75/2020 dated 24.03.2020. While this article has given a bird’s eye view of the various measures taken by the Hon’ble Courts in the southern part of the country; it is in both noteworthy and highly appreciable; manner in which other Hon’ble High Courts & lower Courts have taken similar proactive measures in view of the pandemic faced in the country.

Steps by Hon’ble National Company Law Appellate Tribunal & Hon’ble National Company Law Tribunal & Other Tribunals, Forums

Further, it is noted that even in the Hon’ble Tribunals relevant notifications and preventive measures have been taken to ensure that social distancing has been followed as far as possible. The Hon’ble National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”) vide its Notification F.No.10/37/2018-NCLAT dates 24.03.2020 mentioned that only urgent matters will be hard and that it shall abide by the limitation extension provided by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The various National Company Law Tribunal (“NCLT”) across the country have also been closed, with limited hearing of urgent matters vide its notice dated 22.03.2020. Similarly the Hon’ble Debt Recovery Tribunal, Hon’ble Real Estate Regulatory Authority and other various other judicial forums have also initiated limited functioning and ensured the presence of limited staff only.

With consistent notifications and circulars to ensure the imposition of stringent methods to curb crowds and to maintain social distancing, the Judiciary has been providing maximum support and relaxations with regard to legal matters. The preliminary focus points being the extension of limitation, continuation of interim stay and the relaxations in filing documents. These are definitely some of the strong points in order to ensure that legal matters are unhindered during this period and the main focus remains on public health and safety.

[1] A law practice based out of Chennai specializing in commercial litigation & advisory