The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir & District Courts complex has been closed for 2 days after 31 people including 2 Judicial officers tested positive for COVID-19 during Rapid Antigen tests within the Courts premises on Thursday.
Sources said that a number of staff members working in HC’s Jammu wing also tested positive.
Referring to the information provided by the court’s Registry that some officials in the Jammu wing of the High Court have been tested COVID-19 positive, Chief Justice Gita Mittal cited the Standard Operating Protocols (SOPs) to bar access to HC premises for 2 days for sanitation purpose.
Chief Justice ordered that “No person except the sanitation workers will be permitted to enter the High Court wing on Sept 4 & 5".
Pointing out that urgent cases listed on Sept 4 shall be taken up for consideration on Sept 7, she ordered that dates in other matters will be given by the concerned Bench Secretary & the same will be uploaded on the website of the HC on Sept 7.
In a separate order, Principal District & Sessions Judge, Sanjeev Gupta, said that the District Courts complex will remain closed for 2 days for sanitation purposes & asked the presiding officers of all the Courts to hear urgent cases through virtual mode from their respective residences. Dates in other matters will be given by the concerned clerks of different courts & the same will be uploaded on the website of the District Court, Jammu, on Sept 7, he added.
On Thursday, the Union Territory reported its highest daily-rise in COVID cases at 1,079. Of them, while 622 were reported in Jammu division, the remaining 457 came from Kashmir Valley.
The UT also registered 11 COVID related deaths including three from Jammu division & eight in the Valley. With this, the total number of Coronavirus related deaths in Jammu & Kashmir have risen to 743 including 665 in Kashmir & the number of total active positive cases to 8,441 including 5,431 in Kashmir & 3,010 in Jammu.
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