[COVID-19] Bombay High Court extends life of interim orders on eviction, demolition, dispossession till July 9, 2021

The Bombay High Court on Friday extended the life of interim orders passed by itself as well as subordinate courts and tribunals that fall under its jurisdiction till July 9, 2021 (Court on its own motion - Suo-Motu PIL 1 of 2021)..It further directed that orders pertaining to eviction, demolition or dispossession passed by any lower courts or authorities after April 9 will be kept in abeyance as per the conditions of the previous order of April 16, 2021..The Full Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justices AA Sayed, SS Shinde and PB Varale passed the order today in a suo motu writ petition on the extension of protection to those who are unable to access justice because of the restricted functioning of the courts effected by the COVID-19 pandemic..Upon perusal of the Maharashtra government order dated June 4, 2021, the administrative committee of the High Court had deemed it appropriate to continue with virtual hearings at the Principal Bench, and also at the co-ordinate benches at Nagpur, Aurangabad and Goa. The Bench decided to keep the orders in abeyance till July 9, considering the fact that physical hearing may still be difficult in most districts of the State."Considering that certain districts have been included in Level 1 as per the government order, and normal functioning of courts has been permitted in such districts, taking an over all view of the matter, presumption of physical hearings in all the courts across Maharashtra is still at some distance.".The Court also touched upon a recent incident of a building collapse that led to the loss of lives. Referring to its April 16 order, the Bench clarified,"If authorities consider any building within its jurisdiction or administrative limits to be dilapidated or unsafe and it requires to be demolished with immediate vacation by the inhabitants of the building, such civic authority was at liberty to give notice to the relevant division bench dealing with the suo motu matter pertaining to building collapse and seek appropriate orders for taking action."CJ Datta added that it was unfortunate that building collapses are happening and that lawyers representing local authorities were pointing fingers at the Court. "It is not that these buildings have come up after our orders. They were there for 10-15 years. They do not take action on time and then they take shelter of our orders?" he remarked. .The suo motu petition pertained to matters in which interim orders were passed by the High Court and all subordinate courts falling within its jurisdiction in Maharashtra, Goa and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu.The Full Bench had previously directed that interim orders passed by itself as well as subordinate courts and tribunals that fall under its jurisdiction shall stand extended June 30, 2021..The Bench had kept interim orders in abeyance owing to the second wave of COVID-19, after the Maharashtra government issued an order dated April 13 titled "Break the Chain", though which restrictions under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) were imposed in the State from April 14 to May 1..[COVID-19] Bombay High Court further extends life of interim orders till June 30, 2021