This article was originally published in the 19^th April 2020 edition of

SUMMARY

Pursuant to the Central government’s announcement for a nation-wide lockdown on account of the growing COVID-19 pandemic, several courts issued notifications for suspension of work therein, barring hearings in matters of extreme urgency through video conferencing. Though the Hon’ble Supreme Court has suo motu issued guidelines for functioning of courts through video conferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the question remains – what matters may be catergorised as “extremely urgent”? This gains further relevance in light of recent orders of courts in imposing costs on parties seeking to list ‘non-urgent’ matters such as regular contempt proceedings.

This article draws a detailed analysis of such matters of ‘extreme urgency’, which are being heard by courts during the ongoing lockdown.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Notably, the Administrative Committee of the Delhi High Court has recently decided that the High Court would now hear ‘urgent matters’ instead of only the matters of ‘extreme urgency’.