Supreme Court to consider extending Holi break as CJI Bobde worries about Corona outbreak

The Supreme Court will decide on Friday whether to extend the Holi break in view of the Covid 19 threat.

A brief meeting was held on Thursday evening at the residence of the Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde to discuss the issue.

Besides the CJI, the meeting was attended by Supreme Court judges, justices Arun Mishra and UU Lalit, attorney general KK Venugopal, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, and officials from the health ministry besides representatives of the two lawyers bodies, Supreme Court Bar Association and Supreme Court Advocate-on-Record Association.

The Judges are expected to hold another meeting in this regard before Friday afternoon to decide if the top court, which is set to reopen on March 16, should postpone the reopening date.

Besides the option of extending the vacation, the judges might also consider whether to function in a limited manner by only taking up matters requiring an urgent hearing.

The Supreme Court campus and the Courtrooms are overcrowded, particularly on Mondays and Fridays, when a large number of cases are listed for admission, raising concerns about the spread of coronavirus. The court is currently shut for Holi break with only a vacation bench sitting to deal with urgent matters.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases across India, including foreign nationals, shot to 74 by Thursday evening. Out of these 56 are Indian citizens. The Delhi government on Thursday announced that all movie theatres and schools will remain shut till March 31. Several other state governments had also announced shutting down schools to prevent the spread of the disease.

Source Link