Judicial work in subordinate courts in Tamil Nadu and Pondy suspended

All judicial work in the subordinate courts have been suspended in the wake of surging Covid-19 cases in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,

According to an official memorandum from the office of the Registrar General of the Madras High Court, except for remand purposes and other unavoidable matters, judicial work in these courts shall remain suspended till further orders.

The directions were being issued due to the "steady surge in Covid-19 cases in recent days," and to prevent further spread of infection, it said.

"All litigants and lawyers are prohibited entry into the court complexes in all subordinate courts in the state of Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry unless unavoidable and with the permission of Judge in-charge," it said.

Subsequently, all Judicial officers and staff members of all such courts in the state and the UT were "instructed not to attend court except to the extent absolutely necessary," it added.

Meanwhile, the first bench of the Madras High Court issued a series of directions over interim orders and others passed by the Principal seat here as well as at the Madurai bench.

Accordingly, the interim orders passed by the High Court that were subsisting on April 30 shall stand extended till June 30, unless vacated or modified earlier or until further orders of the Court, unless specifically dealt with by any judicial order to the contrary.

Similarly, the interim orders passed by the Courts in the district judiciary that were subsisting on April 30 shall stand extended till June 30 unless vacated or modified earlier by any judicial order, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said.

"All orders passed by the Courts exercising criminal jurisdiction having granted bail, anticipatory bail, or parole, etc. for a limited period which are likely to expire on or before June 30, 2021, shall stand extended till June 30, 2021 subject to any orders passed by the relevant forum even prior to the expiry of such date," it added.

Orders passed by the Courts exercising criminal jurisdiction having granted bail, anticipatory bail, or parole for a limited period which are likely to expire on or before June 30 shall stand extended till June 30 subject to any orders passed by the relevant forum even prior to the expiry of such date.

Further, since it may not be possible to produce remand prisoners for extension of remand either before various Courts either in person or via video-conference, all remands stand extended till June 30, "without prejudice to the right of the arrested person to apply for bail in the meantime," the bench said in a case taken up on its own.