Bar rooms to remain closed: Courts to open today with 15% staff strength, coats barred

The SOP issued by the High Court for subordinate courts states, “The courts will hear only emergency matter like addition to bails filed pre-lockdown and anticipatory bail pleas. They will hear matters fixed for judgment. They will conduct final hearing where witness presence is not essential.”

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No coats or gowns or robes are required during such period when the threat of spread of coronavirus looms large, or until the council issues another administrative order,” the Bar Council of India said.

After the directions from the Bombay High Court, subordinate courts across Maharashtra will reopen on Monday, after a break of nearly two-and-a-half months due to the nationwide lockdown enforced amid the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The High Court has issued a standard operating procedure for the lower courts to follow, which include all courts in red zone areas will function for four hours in two sessions, with only 15 per cent staff strength.

As per a Supreme Court order to Bar Councils across the country, all advocates have been asked to wear “plain white shirt/salwar kameez/saree with white neck band” during hearings and proceedings before all high courts and other subordinate courts, tribunals, commissions and forums. “No coats or gowns or robes are required during such period when the threat of spread of coronavirus looms large, or until the council issues another administrative order,” the Bar Council of India said in its directives issued to all bar associations, based on the circular issued by the apex court.

Satish Mulik, president of the Pune Bar Association (PBA), said there were over 4,000 advocates practising in Shivajinagar court. “Lawyers will have to keep their black coats at home. Every year, from March 15 to June 15, we don’t wear the coat due to prevailing heat conditions,” he said.

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Welcoming the decision, Mulik said as coats are not washed every day, “it could lead to further spread of infection.”

Mulik said the PBA has made masks mandatory for all lawyers in court premises. “They are also asked to carry a small bottle of sanitiser. We are also going to install a sanitiser machine at the entrance of the court premises. We are in touch with the PMC regarding the cleaning and disinfecting work in the court premises,” he said.

Mulik said the courts will function in a low-key manner.

The SOP issued by the High Court for subordinate courts states, “The courts will hear only emergency matter like addition to bails filed pre-lockdown and anticipatory bail pleas. They will hear matters fixed for judgment. They will conduct final hearing where witness presence is not essential.”

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Meanwhile, some lawyers in Pune were unhappy with the move to close down bar rooms, libraries and lawyers’ chambers in court premises.

Advocate Sushil Mancharkar, former president of Pimpri-Chinchwad Bar Association, said, “There are hundreds of lawyers who turn up at Shivajinagar district court, the biggest court in Pune district, every day. There are seven bar rooms in the court premises, and all of them will remain closed. Given that monsoon is just around the corner, lawyers will have to stand outside in rain. It might expose us to coronavirus as well.” Advocate Manisha Jadhav said that women lawyers will be hit badly by the closure of bar rooms.

Mulik said the subordinate courts have been directed to fully utilise the video-conferencing facility. “The SOP says final arguments shall preferably done via videoconferencing and or by accepting the written notes of arguments,” Mulik said.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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