COVID-19: Kerala High Court extends life of interim orders, stay on recovery proceedings until further orders

The Kerala High Court on Monday extended of the operation of interim orders passed by the Court in view of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic (Court on its own motion: Suo Motu Proceedings - COVID-19 Pandemic v. State of Kerala). .To this end, the Court has extended the application of its order dated March 25, by the which the High Court had first extended the life of interim orders in view of the COVID-19 situation. The extension will be in force till until further orders. The matter will be taken up next on September 7, 2020."... COVID 19 pandemic situation continues and even at this point of time also, it cannot be said that the litigants are free so as to enable the to approach the courts/Tribunals for vindicating their grievances against any coercive/recovery action, taken by the institutions, referred to in our earlier orders."the Court observed..A three-Judge Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justices Shaji P Chaly and CT Ravikumar issued the order..In the latest proceedings before the Court, the State Bank of India had sought to be impleaded as an additional respondent in the Court's suo motu writ kept pending to monitor issues arising out of the pandemic. .The Bank group has sought to continue with recovery proceedings initiated "much before" the outbreak of the pandemic..Citing two Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circulars that pertained to recovery proceedings, the Bank argued that the circulars, being subordinate legislation, demonstrated the Central Government's policy of not putting a halt to initiated proceedings. The March 25 order had put a halt to these proceedings, it is contended..The Additional Advocate-General for Kerala and the Central Government Counsel sought time to obtain appropriate instructions concerning the State Banks' claims. .Pertinently, Additional Advocate General Ranjith Thampan submitted that if the banks were permitted to proceed with recoveries, other lending institutions would follow suit, approaching the Court seeking to initiate recovery. .The Court, noting that the situation in Kerala had not changed after its last Order, extended the life of its March 25 and May 18 orders, which pertained to recoveries as well..The suo motu writ petition was registered by the Court after it was brought to the Court's notice that litigants were put to difficulty in approaching the Court amid the COVID-19 pandemic. .Since then, the Court has dealt with a wide range of subjects in hearings, including the status of its interim orders and the status of prisoners released on remand. Prior to Monday's order, the last order was passed on June 30..The order dated August 3 deals specifically with recovery proceedings by various state entities..On March 18, and on March 25, 2020, the Court had stayed recovery proceedings in respect of water, electricity, and abkari (manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors or drugs) as well as proceedings relating to Local Self Government Institutions, Public Sector Undertakings, and Government matters..The March 25 order followed a Special Leave Petition to the Supreme Court in respect of the Kerala High Court's order concerning Public Sector Undertakings. .On March 25, the order in respect of Government entities took note of the State's undertaking to the Supreme Court to evolve an appropriate mechanism to "assuage hardships and grievances". The Court had voiced a hope that till such a mechanism was put in place, no action would be taken..Read the Court's August 3 order: