Delhi High Court Extends Life Of Interim Orders Till August 13

The Delhi High Court has extended the life of interim orders till August 13 while dealing with the suo moto petition registered in order to deal with the matter concerning extension of interim orders in all matters pending before it and subordinate Courts in view of the limited functioning due to the second Covid wave. (In Re: Extension of Interim Orders)

A full bench comprising of Justice Vipin Sanghi, Justice Rekha Palli and Justice Talwant Singh also directed Santosh Kumar Tripathi, standing counsel for GNCTD to inform the Court about the status of proceedings pending before the Supreme Court in its suo moto case regarding Decongestion of prisons in view of covid 19 pandemic. 

"Mr. Tripathi shall also inform the court, on the next date, the status of the proceedings before the Supreme Court – wherein the Supreme Court has directed that the prisoners, who have been released from Jail on account of Covid-19, and are on bail, shall not be required to surrender." The Court said.

Furthermore, it ordered:

"List on 13.08.2021. Interim orders to continue."

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 the May 7 order in the suo motu case should not be asked to surrender until further orders.

It also directed all state governments to submit a report before it by next Friday 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.

The development came after the High Court had earlier 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 matter will now be considered on August 13.

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

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