Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bombay High Court has said it will continue to hear all matters virtually till July 9 at Bombay, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Goa.
A Bench consisting of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta, justices A.A. Sayed, S.S. Shinde and P.V. Varale also extended all interim reliefs till July 9 or until further orders.
The administrative committee of this court, upon perusal of the government order dated June 4, 2021 issued by the Chief Secretary to the Maharashtra government, has deemed it appropriate to continue with virtual hearings.
Taking an overall view in the matter, presumption of physical hearings in all the courts across Maharashtra is still at some distance. The protection granted by the interim orders passed in this suo motu PIL petition is extended till July 9 or till further order. The court will assemble on July 5 after the administrative committee considers the situation on July 1 after considering the functioning of courts.
Referring to the building collapse in Malad on June 10, the Bench said, “In the past couple of days the media has reported incidents of building collapses leading to loss of precious lives. It could be that there are buildings which are dilapidated against which corporations or councils may not be in a position to take action. As per our previous order, we make it clear that if the authorities consider any building within its jurisdiction to be dilapidated or unsafe requiring the building to be vacated of its inhabitants such authority shall be at liberty to give notice.”
The court told public prosecutor P.P. Kakade, “We are surprised that despite giving liberty to the corporations to approach the courts, the corporations are pointing fingers at us. You do not take action against the buildings on time, and then blame is shifted on us.”
The Bench will assemble at 2 p.m. to hear the municipal corporations.
