New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday decided to restrict its functioning as well as that of the district courts to urgent matters till July 31 in view of the prevalent situation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier, the high court had restricted its functioning and that of the district courts till July 15. The Administrative and General Supervision Committee of the high court, headed by Chief Justice D N Patel, decided that the restriction would be in place till July 31, the Registrar Generals (RG) office said. It also said that presently, on account of suspended functioning of the court, urgent matters of all kinds as well as regular and final category matters are being taken up through video conferencing by all benches of the high court with judges hearing matters from their respective residences only. There are presently seven division benches and 18 single-judge benches in the high court. The RGs office also said that after the inauguration of the online e-filing system in the high court on June 13, 10,480 lawyers and litigants in persons got themselves registered for e-filing. It also said that the litigants and lawyers can also keep track of matters being heard via video conferencing on a particular day through the online display board and a provision has been put in place to enable public viewing of hearings. Besides that, around 9,000 matters have been taken up by the high court through video conferencing from the beginning of the lockdown till July 10 and 1,824 main cases and 7,692 miscellaneous applications have been disposed of during this period. The high court also held over 230 administrative meetings via video conferencing during this period. Regarding the functioning of the subordinate courts, the RGs office said directions have been issued to all judicial officers in the Delhi District Courts to take up urgent matters and final arguments cases of their respective courts through video conferencing. In district courts, 48,720 matters have been taken up through video conferencing from March 24 to July 10, it said and added that besides pronouncement of judgments in around 1,600 cases, more than 21,000 miscellaneous applications have been disposed of by subordinate courts. The RGs office also said that the Administrative and General Supervision Committee of of the high court has now permitted physical filing of non-urgent/ordinary matters with the stipulation that such matters be taken up for hearing after normal functioning resumes. Earlier, the High Court had on March 25 restricted its function as well as that of the district courts till April 14. It was subsequently extended to May 3, May 17, May 23, May 31, June 14 and July 15.

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