New Delhi, July 17, 2020: The Supreme Court has asked the Solicitor General to seek appropriate instructions from the Kerala High Court in a plea seeking quashing of Notice by the High Court of Kerala, which mandates re-commencement of physical filings of applications/petitions, except bail pleas w.e.f. July 6 and for physical appearances except before Single Judges of the High Court of Kerala.

The Supreme Court Bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shah, though initially was not inclined to entertain the plea and asked the Petitioner to approach the Kerala High Court, it subsequently took note of the Counsel's submission that the mandate could not be effectuated in light of the Coronavirus-induced situation.

According to advocate for Petitioner Natasha Dalmia said "There is containment zone around High Court, physically impossible to go before Court in such a situation. Many lawyers are staying in Trivandrum, which is undergoing triple lockdown for a week. Impossible to head to Court".

The Petition has been filed by P G Aravind and invokes Article 32 of the Constitution citing various issues including exposure to the Virus and other constraints such as declaration of various zones as "containment areas", lack of accessibility to logistical means such as printing, binding of paper books as well as travel restrictions due to the pandemic situation. In light of this, the petitioner seeks quashing of the notification which mandates physical filing(s) and appearances.

Further to this plea, the Petitioner cites the example of various high courts and tribunals across the country that have steered in the direction of conducting hearings only via Video Conferencing and e-filings, owing to the reported cases amongst registry members, clerical staff and others.

Furthermore to this plea, Assailing the notice in terms of directions for time-slot available for physical filings, the plea highlights that 10AM to 1 PM being the mandated time for filings will "only result in crowding of court clerks, advocates and litigants" and there is not safety measure which has been undertaken within the court premises to curb this.

The petitioner also says that the notice is arbitrary and does not satisfy the "intelligible differentia" and rational nexus under Article 14 of the Constitution while mandating physical filings for one class of litigants and excluding bail applicants,

News Courtesy:PIB | Hindu| DC | LE | LI | LO | IE | LL | PTI |ht | ET | UNI | DNA | FP | Jurist |IndToday|

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