[COVID-19 Lockdown] Telangana High Court, subordinate courts to hear only urgent matters until April 30, Summer Vacation 2020 cancelled

A Full Court of the Telangana High Court has decided that the High Court and subordinate courts in the State would continue its present arrangement of hearing only urgent cases until April 30, even after the 21-day national COVID-19 lockdown is expected to be lifted on April 14.

The decision was taken to guard against the risk of crowds gathering in the courts if the present lockdown is completely lifted in one go.

Therefore, it has been decided that at the High Court level, only extremely urgent matters such as bail applications, stay applications, PILs etc. will be taken up until April 30.

At the District Court level, only extremely urgent criminal and civil matters including bail applications, remand applications, pleas for extension of remand, interim injunctions etc. will be entertained.

The situation would be reviewed on April 25.

The press release issued in this regard also intimates that a decision has been taken to cancel this year's summer vacation for the courts in Telangana. Accordingly, all the courts - High Court and subordinate courts - in the state will continue to function throughout May till June 5, this year.

The Full Court took these decisions following a meeting conducted today via video conferencing. The meeting saw the participation of the Telangana Advocate General, the Chairman of the State Bar Council and the President of the High Court Advocates Association.

The Director of the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Hyderabad was also present to brief the gathering on the prevailing situation on COVID-19.