Delhi High Court Extends Life Of Interim Orders Till October 22

The Delhi High Court has extended the life of its interim orders till October 22, 2021.

The order was passed while dealing with the suo moto petition registered on the extension of interim orders in all matters pending before it and subordinate Courts, in view of the limited functioning of Courts due to the second Covid wave.

A full bench comprising of Justice Vipin Sanghi, Justice Rekha Palli and Justice Talwant Singh ordered thus:

"We clarify that the interim order granted by us on 20.04.2021 stands extended till 22.10.2021."

The Supreme Court had ordered that all prisoners who have been released by the High Powered Committees of states in the wake of COVID pandemic pursuant to its May 7 order in the suo motu case should not be asked to surrender until further orders.

It had also directed all state governments to submit a report before it detailing how the May 7 order was implemented and the criteria adopted by the HPCs to release the prisoners on emergency parole taking note of the COVID situation.

Recently, the bench had observed that an applicant not surrendering on time when bail was granted last year cannot be a reason to deny interim bail under the High Powered Committee guidelines.

Earlier, the Court had sought status report from the Delhi Government on the impact of extension of interim orders, and interim bails granted to the undertrial Prisoners in view of recommendations made by the High Powered Committee with an objective of decongesting jails amid Covid-19 pandemic.

The Court had extended life of interim orders on earlier occasions including 20th April, 11th May, 4th June and 9th July, 19th July, 30th July and August 13.

Case Title: COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION v. STATE (GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI)

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