HC to resume physical hearing from today

Legal Correspondent

Shimla, February 22

After nearly a year, the HP High Court will resume its complete physical functioning from tomorrow (February 23).

The High Court has decided to start its regular functioning from tomorrow. From Tuesday, all division and single Benches of the High Court will begin physical hearing of cases.

As per the notification it is ordered that cases, which have been filed through e-mail, either decided or pending, the hard copy of the cases along with the court fees be filed/deposited within a period of 30 days from today. The filing of the cases through the e-mail mode is now ordered to be discontinued.

All subordinate courts in the state had already started regular functioning on February, 15. In its previous notification regarding resuming of physical hearing in all subordinate courts of the state, the High Court had directed all the District Judges that all stakeholders, including lawyers, should follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Health.

The High Court along with the district courts had on March 25 last year restricted its physical functioning. However, the HC had resumed physical hearings in a limited manner in September 2020. Due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the High Court was holding only virtual courts.