Karnataka CJ seeks cooperation of Bar as COVID-19 disrupts judiciary's functioning

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Sreeniwas Oka has said many judicial officers and staff members were down with the infection and sought the coooperation of the bar in the functioning of the judiciary during the pandemic.

In an appeal to the members of bar, the Chief Justice said requests for urgent listing should be made only in those cases where there is real genuine urgency and which cannot wait for two to three weeks.

“As on today, 39 staff members working on the establishment of the High Court of Karnataka at Bengaluru have been tested positive for COVID-19.Test results of about 25 employees are awaited.

About 45 employees have been quarantined,” the chief justice said in his letter on Monday.

Highlighting that the High Court has resumed physical filing and physical hearing in certain categories from Monday, the chief justice said 30 to 40 per cent of staff are operating at a given point in time.

Speaking about the prevailing situation in the district courts, he said seven judicial officers have tested positive and 74 have been quarantined.

“Totally 54 staff members in the district judiciary have tested positive and 139 staff members have undergone quarantine.

Due to various reasons, 40 court complexes in the state were required to be closed for sanitisation for one or two days,” he explained.

Calling the situation borne out of the pandemic a temporary phase, the chief justice said the members of the judiciary were eager to restore the normal functioning of all the courts.

“As the entire judicial system in the state is facing a stiff challenge due to the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, I request the members of the bar to continue their cooperation,” he said in his appeal.