Chief Justices of Delhi & Punjab & Haryana High Court Test Positive For COVID-19

The Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, D N Patel has tested positive for COVID-19, PTI has reported quoting Court Sources. He is currently in home isolation and the Sources have informed that he is asymptotic and doing fine.

Earlier 3 judges of the Delhi High Court tested positive for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

Also, the Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court, Ravi Shankar Jha has tested positive for COVID-19.

The Cause list uploaded on the High Court's website revealed that the Chief Justice won't be holding court on April 19 and April 20 since he had tested positive for novel Coronavirus.

The Delhi High Court had resumed full-fledged physical hearing from Mar 15, amid demands by members of the Delhi High Court Bar Association and others citing various issues with the hybrid mode of hearing - including that many junior advocates at the Bar had been affected due to the non-functioning of courts physically.

After hearing arguments on the issue, the court had ordered on Mar 9 for the virtual mode of hearing to be available only in exceptional cases, and not as a general rule.

The Court had also ordered that physical non-availability in Delhi NCR would not be permitted to be an exceptional circumstance unless the judge was satisfied otherwise - a question to be decided on a case to case basis. This order was reversed by the Supreme Court which held that applications for hybrid hearings were to be decided more "compassionately".

Recently, the High Court reverted back to the virtual mode of proceedings, with a Full Bench ordering the same to be operational from Apr 9 to Apr 23 - in view of snowballing of the number of Covid-19 cases in the national capital. 

Earlier, a judge of the Delhi High Court during a hearing had remarked that he would not be able to hear the matter at length on the day as he had taken his Covid-19 jab a day before and was advised rest.