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Advocate Rajiv Nayar writes to Delhi High Court against the resumption pf physical hearings
Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar has urged against the physical resumption of the High Court by writing a letter to the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court keeping in view the existing COVID-19 pandemic situation in Delhi.
The Delhi High Court through its letter has conveyed to the Bar that it has considered the resumption of court hearings physically from the next month. In response to this, Advocate Rajiv Nayar has said
“To resume physical hearings at this time or partially re-opening Courts are this time would pose a serious threat to all of us. Having lost my own Court clerk to this deadly virus, I can say from personal experience that we must not take this situation lightly."
Nayar has pointed out several issues regarding the commencement of physical hearings. With the situation improving in Delhi one might still not do away with the possibility of new infections being spread due to so many people coming in contact with each other. Also, the highest number of infections per day in the world have ben recorded by India as per data. Reopening of the High Court would create circumstances where the lives of the people involved in the functioning of the court would be in danger, even more for the people with health ailments. A situation may crop up where a lawyer has to spend longer times in court premises because he might have to appear for two hearings one a single day, physical hearing in one court and virtual hearing in another. An individual could not completely focus as a thought of getting infected with the virus would remain at the back of one’s mind which would definitely hamper the working. Nayar observed that,
“While we look to having a full-scale resumption of our Court, but I feel that the same cannot come at the cost of endangering lives. Our Court should not resume physical hearings until the situation in the national Capital improves and there are negligible fresh cases.” Standing up for the virtual functioning Nayar has added, “the time has come to expand the hearings to regular matters as well instead of en bloc adjournments to another date.”
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