Bombay HC Decides To Cancel Summer Vacation 'In Principle' If Lockdown Is Lifted Post May 3

The Bombay High Court has 'in principle' decided to cancel its upcoming month long summer vacation if the current lockdown is extended beyond May 3.

Although an official notification is yet to be released, Registrar General SB Aggarwal has confirmed that the summer vacation which was scheduled to begin from May 7 and end on June 7 will be cancelled if lockdown is lifted. He also said that in such a scenario, Court will start at 10:30 am instead of 11 and working hours will be increased by half an hour.

Ever since the nationwide lockdown was declared to combat the pandemic of coronavirus, Chief Justice BP Dharmadhikari, through the High Court registry, has been issuing directions from time to time regarding functioning and working hours of the Principal seat of High Court, its bench in Nagpur and Aurangabad and the High Court of Bombay at Goa.

As of today, only extremely urgent matters are being heard by the High Court via video conferencing adhering to social distancing norms. If the lockdown is extended beyond May 3, then the high court will function as per the present arrangement where special benches constituted by the Chief Justice hear extremely urgent matters twice a week via video-conferencing