Madras HC to resume in-person hearings from Feb 8 – The News Minute

The Madras High Court will resume physical hearings from February 8, months after the courts were shut down and physical hearings suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The courts will function in hybrid mode, which allows the final hearings of the case to be heard physically and all the other hearings will be done online.

As per reports, a notification was issued by the court registry on Wednesday, that said that physical hearings for matters other than the final hearings can also be taken up with the prior permission of the bench. Listing out the standard operating procedures to be followed as the courts resume physical hearings, the notification stated that a maximum of five advocates/clerks will only be allowed inside the court sections at any point in time and a maximum of two advocates will only be permitted for each party in a case. Not more than 6-10 advocates will be allowed to enter the court hall and the remaining advocates shall be asked to wait in the designated areas and only enter when their cases are taken up for hearing. Once the hearing is completed, the advocates shall leave the premises. Nobody other than the advocates, including law students, interns, litigants, parties in person etc will be allowed to enter the premises once courts resume partial functioning on February 8.

The High Court suspended physical hearings in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 1, the court resumed hearing cases in person. However, after a few judges tested positive for coronavirus, the open court hearings were suspended again. The benches were ordered to conduct hearings through video conferencing. The bench strength was also reduced initially with hearings conducted only for Public Interest LItigations, Habeas Corpus, bail, and anticipatory bail petitions. The court resumed full-bench strength in July after which all hearings are being conducted through video conferencing.