The Manipur High Court has notified that the regular sitting for both the high court and subordinate courts will remain suspended till July 31. However, urgent motion cases will be taken up through video conference.
In case if video conference is not possible due to any reason, physical court can be conducted by maintaining strict COVID-19 protocols and social distancing on permission, said a notification order signed by the registrar general of the high court, A Guneshwar Sharma.
The software for the video conferencing will be ‘Jitsi Meet’ and the email for filing fresh matter at the high court will be ‘hcmefiling@gmail.com’ and for the district courts urgent cases will be accepted by email, it added.
The notification also mentioned that the training programme of Manipur Judicial Academy will be done only through online and the Manipur State Legal Services Authority will take up urgent legal service activities at all levels, as may be possible.
Pending cases fixed for hearing on a day to day basis up to July 31 will be adjourned to subsequent dates in respect of high court and district courts, it stated.
The interim orders granted by the high court and the district courts in pending cases will be extended till the next date of effective hearing and similar arrangements will be made by all the respective Juvenile Justice Boards of the districts, the notification further added.
The attendance of employees in the high court and the district courts including digitization and scanning projects will remain suspended, it added.
The notification was issued after considering the announcement for extension of lockdown till July 31 by the government considering the rapid increases of COVID-19 cases in the state.