COVID-19 | Kerala High Court Extends Validity Of All Interim Orders Till March 16 In Lieu Of Fluctuating TPR

The Kerala High Court on Monday extended the life of all interim orders passed by the High Court and all courts and tribunals falling under the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court for another month taking into consideration the fluctuation in the Test Positivity Rate in the State.

A Full Bench of Chief Justice S. Manikumar, Justice Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Shaji P. Chaly extended the validity of its previous order extending all interim orders till 21 February amid the Covid-19 surge in the State. 

"We have gone through the Government Orders. There is no contra view expressed by other learned counsel. Thus, taking into consideration the test positivity rate and also the submission of the learned Advocate General, interim order dated 18th January 2022 in W.P. (C) No.11316 of 2021, is extended upto 16.3.2022."

On January 18, the High Court had deemed it fit to extend the validity of its interim order dated  May 19 2021 in which it had issued directions for the extension of interim orders.

This was done in light of the directions passed by the Supreme Court relaxing the limitation period to file cases under all general and special laws across the country till February 28.

Accordingly, their validity has been extended till March 16 2022. 

The decision was made after considering the views of Advocate General K.Gopalakrishna Kurup, ASGI S.Manu, DGP T.A Shaji, President of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association Advocate Rajesh Vijayan and President of Kerala Federation of Women Lawyers Advocate P.K.Santhamma in open court.

Although the Kottakkal Co-operative Urban Bank Limited had sought to implead itself as an additional respondent, Advocate Devaprasanth. P.J representing the proposed additional respondent submitted that the Bank would follow the general order dated 18.1.2022, extended up to 16.3.2022.

Therefore, no order was passed in this impleading application and it was closed accordingly.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Ker) 102

Click Here To Read/Download The Order