Telangana: Courts to remain in lockdown till April 30, skip summer break

HYDERABAD: All the courts in Telangana will remain closed till April 30 irrespective of the lockdown. Another important decision taken on Tuesday was to cancel this year’s summer vacation. This means the high court and district courts will function from May 1 to June 5, which is the annual vacation period.
These decisions were taken by a full court comprising judges of the Telangana high court after they met through a video-conference.They also interacted with Bar leaders and medical experts to assess the Covid-2019 situation.
With regard to the lockdown, the full court meet presided over by Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan interacted with K Shankar, director of Institute of Preventive Medicine, who suggested a phased lifting of the lockdown instead of opening all the sectors in one go which, he said, could lead to overcrowding.
The court took into confidence Bar Council chairman A Narasimha Reddy, Bar Association president Suryakaran Reddy and decided to extend the lockdown of courts till April 30.
The full court would again meet on April 25 to review the situation, said registrar general A Venkateswara Reddy. The courts, including HC, will continue to hear urgent cases in a virtual mode, he said.
It is learnt that courts in the coming weeks could take up final hearing matters through virtual mode if the lockdown is extended. “As judicial employees have come forward to donate one-day’s salary towards Chief Justice Relief fund, the same will be deducted from their April salaries and forwarded to CM Relief Fund,” the registrar general said.