Four Supreme Court Judges Test COVID Positive; Will Odisha Go For Virtual Hearing?

New Delhi: Four judges of the Supreme Court have tested positive for the virus, the Bar and Bench reported.

Notably, Chief Justice of India N V Ramana on Thursday precautionarily mandated judges to conduct virtual hearings from their residence offices after two judges and several court staff were found infected.

Only extremely urgent ‘mentioned’ matters, fresh matters, bail matters, matters involving stay, detention matters and fixed date matters will be heard from January 10.

According to a report published in TOI, the CJI had reluctantly agreed to host high teas during the farewell ceremony of Justice R S Reddy. One sitting judge, who it is learnt to have had fever on Tuesday, mixed freely with all. He later tested positive for the virus and was admitted to the Medanta hospital. The result of a second judge was also found to be positive.

In Odisha, all courts including Orissa High Court and tribunals will function with 50 per cent staff from January 10

All the benches have been directed to function only through video conferencing while offices of HC will function with 50 per cent strength of employees between January 10 and February 4.

Except for the officers and staff, there will be restrictions on the entry of others into the High Court campus. In a case where there is a specific direction of any bench for removal of defects, the advocate concerned may come to the court for the limited purpose with prior intimation to Deputy Registrar (Judicial), a notification said.