Advocates, Litigants-In-Person, clerks to advocates won't be allowed to enter the High Court
Allahabad High Court will function virtually from Monday in light of the increasing number of coronavirus cases in Uttar Pradesh and across the country.
25 Courts will be made functional initially for hearing through virtual mode but may increase or decrease as per the existing workload (number of cases) and requirement, an official statement said.
"Case files in physical form, if required, will be placed before the Court even during the virtual hearing of the said case," the statement said, adding that advocates, Litigants-In-Person and clerks to the advocates will not be permitted to enter the High Court premises.
Filing of cases, petitions, applications, and other relevant documents will be done through e-mode and physical form.
"The filing time will be up to 4 pm for clearing the pendency and to ensure that cases in adequate numbers are sent to all the Courts," it added.
Further, it said that a 24/7 help-line will be made operational to assist advocates in matters regarding filing, listing and other information related to their case.
In view of the surge in cases of COVID-19, the Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday announced new restrictions, including imposing night curfew in districts and closure of schools till April 30.
Districts reporting over 100 daily cases or with 500 active cases will be placed under night curfew, according to the order.
At a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath it was decided at least one lakh RT-PCR tests will be conducted daily to identify people who have contracted the deadly disease.
Uttar Pradesh has reported 15,353 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours and the state's case load has risen to 6,92,092. Active cases are at 71,241 while total recoveries have been recorded at 6,11,622.