The Jharkhand High Court will take up only “extremely urgent matters” filed in the year 2021 through video conferencing mode with effect from Monday in the wake of the alarming rise in Covid-19 cases in Jharkhand and particularly in Ranchi, an order issued by the Registrar General on Sunday stated.
The order further stated that other pending, routine and non-urgent matters and the matters listed before the Court during the period from April 26 shall not be taken up by the court until further notice. “Such matters stand adjourned,” the order stated.
However, in case of any “extreme urgency”, the request in the pending matter can be made on the official email ID of the court, the order further read.
The development comes at a time when the mutant strains of Covid-19 virus, which have higher transmissibility and are said to be airborne, have already been found in the state capital. Lawyers also fear that the state does not have enough medical facilities and supplies to treat all Covid patients and taking precaution was the only way to survive this pandemic.
Earlier this month, the Jharkhand State Bar Council convened a meeting and asked all the advocates and their staff in Jharkhand to refrain from physical as well as online hearing for at least a week in a bid to break the chain of infection.
“It was noted with serious concern that a large number of Advocates and their support staff have fallen ill, and several precious lives have also been lost. The medical facilities and supplies are grossly unsatisfactory. Under the circumstances, strict measures are required to not only break the COVID 19 spread but to also provide some time to improve the medical facilities and supplies,” a notice from the bar council stated.
Several lawyers and their staff have been infected by the Covid-19 infection in Jharkhand during the month of April. Many senior advocates and their family members have also lost their lives to the deadly virus, claim practicing lawyers in Ranchi.
As per government records, the state has been reporting more than 5000 cases and around 75 deaths every day on an average in the past one week. The active caseload in Ranchi has jumped close to 15,000 from hardly 200 in the end of February, triggering panic among locals. Ranchi alone has reported more than 200 Covid casualties in the past one week.