HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Friday decided to resume physical hearing but continue with the virtual hearing of cases on rotation basis from February 22 onwards. This comes in the wake of the considerable decline in Covid-19 cases and the latest guidelines of the Centre and State government on relaxing the curbs. The High Court’s decision was made after due deliberations with all stakeholders, including advocates’ associations.
According to the schedule, the physical and virtual hearing on rotation basis by division and single benches will be held from February 22 to March 19. The court will continue to accept either online or physical filing of cases. As per the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the High Court, wearing of advocate gowns while appearing physically in court has been dispensed with for the time being but counsels have to wear coat and bands.
The High Court also issued a notification for starting the regular functioning of subordinate courts from February 22 as per the practice and procedure prior to the pandemic. All Covid-19 guidelines have to be followed strictly.
The courts in Hyderabad — city civil courts, metropolitan sessions courts, CBI courts, city small causes courts and tribunals — should start working as per the modified SOP from March 1 onwards. The stakeholders have to follow the SOP scrupulously, along with other instructions issued by the High Court and Government of India, which include maintaining physical distance, wearing masks and using sanitisers.
No one with cough, fever and running nose, apart from those with low immunity and without masks, will be allowed on the court premises. Thermal screening has been made available, while entry into the court hall has been restricted only to counsels whose cases are listed. Only six advocates will be allowed in the court hall.