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Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 27
As second wave of COVID-19 hits India, the Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the limitation period for filing cases/appeals under various central and state laws until further orders.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said the order is aimed at mitigating the hardships faced by litigants and lawyers due to the second wave of the pandemic that has created an alarming situation.
"For the past few weeks, we have witnessed the second wave of COVID-19. It's an alarming situation which has put litigants to hardship... All limitation period which was relaxed till March 13, 2021 and ended on March 14, 2021 be extended until further orders," it said.
Initially, the Bench said it would be better if the limitation period under various laws was extended till July 15.
Later, however, it. agreed to suggestions made by Attorney General KK Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the extension of limitation period should be indefinite.
A formal order in this regard will be issued by this evening.
A similar order was passed by the top court in March last year when it had suo motu suspended the limitation period in view of the problems faced by litigants and lawyers due to a national lockdown necessitated by COVID-19 pandemic.
The Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) had urged the top court to suspend limitation period for filing of cases/appeals under all general/special laws in view of a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases across India.
SCAORA had requested the court to extend its March 23, 2020 order with regard to suspension of limitation period till further orders.
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