A Division Bench led by Chief Justice Abhay Oka and comprising of Mrs. Justice B V Nagarathna on September 29th, 2020 ordered to extend the operations of all interim orders that are due to expire within a span of one month, till November 29th, 2020, passed by the High Court, subordinate courts or the Tribunals. The court ordered some direction for the same. The court ordered that those courts or tribunals in the state over which this court has the power of superintendence, and orders of those courts which are due to expire within one month from today, will continue to operate for a period of one month from today.
The court also said that those interim orders which are not of limited duration and are to operate till further orders will remain unaffected, similarly, if any court has granted bail orders or anticipatory bail for a limited period which are likely to expire in one month from today, the said orders will stand extended for a period of one month from today. The orders will similarly apply if any court in the state has ordered demolition, eviction, or dispossession. The court also said that we know that it is impossible for citizens to approach the court for the redressal of their grievances for a period of one 21 days; we sincerely hope that government authorities will be slow in taking action of demolition and eviction process.
The High Court further said that “Our attention is invited to our Order dated 24th March 2020 and in particular, the direction regarding extension of interim orders. The directions are contained in clause (i) to (iii). Clause (iv) is regarding agencies and instrumentalities of the State Government taking action of demolition and eviction. Only with the view to ensure that citizens are not deprived of their right to approach the Courts of law, we propose to exercise our jurisdiction under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India by issuing certain directions. The directions are required to be issued to ensure that litigants should not suffer on account of their inability to approach the Courts of law”.
A separate notice was also issued by Chief Justice Abhay Oka which read, “Considering the fact that the situation created due to pandemic COVID-19 has not yet improved, the period of closure under Section 4 of the Limitation Act, 1963 in respect of the High Court of Karnataka, Principal Bench at Bengaluru and Benches at Dharwad and Kalaburagi, and all the District Courts, Trial Courts, Family Courts, Labour Courts and Industrial Tribunals in the state of Karnataka s extended till November 29th, 2020”. The notice says that this will not hamper at any cost the current functioning of the courts as per the prevailing Standards of Procedures. Notwithstanding the extension of closure under Section 4, all the courts will be working as per the notified Standard of Procedure.
