KOCHI: A judge of the High Court has gone into quarantine voluntarily after a police officer who visited the court on June 17 tested positive for the coronavirus. The court officer, staff members, the Special Government Pleader and some staff of the Advocate General’s (AG) office have also gone into self-quarantine.According to the health officials, they had asked only three employees who were the primary contact of the police officer to go into home quarantine. “Only three staffs of the High Court had direct contact with the officer. The health authorities did not ask the judge or others staffs to go into quarantine,” said a health officer of the surveillance cell.
The office of the Registrar General said that the fire and rescue officials disinfected the court premises following the incident. The report that the judge has gone into quarantine is incorrect, said Sophy Thomas, Registrar General.A meeting of the judges, Advocate General and other stakeholders will be held on Monday to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, the High Court Advocates Association has sent a letter to the Chief Justice seeking to discontinue the physical sittings and physical filings in the High Court till June 30. The reopening of the court may be considered based on the test results of the primary contacts of the infected officer. The admission of matters on video conferencing can be continued. The police officer had entered the High Court to submit a file with regard to a vigilance case to the government pleader. The file was also handed over to the judge through the government pleader.
Seven evacuation flights to arrive today
Kochi: As many as seven international evacuation flights are scheduled to arrive at the Kochi airport on Sunday. These flights will bring in 1,490 passengers from West Asia. On Saturday, the international terminal witnessed nine arrivals carrying 1,610 evacuees. An Air Arabia flight from Sharjah will touch down at 4.30 am while a Saudia flight from Jeddah is scheduled to arrive at 11.30 am. An Air India Express flight from Muscat will land at 7.15 pm and another Air India Express flight from Dubai will arrive at 8.05 pm. An Air Arabia flight will arrive from Sharjah at 9.30pm and an Indigo flight from Jeddah will touch down at 11.15 pm. The domestic terminal handled 25 arrival and departure operations on Saturday.