HC extends interim orders staying eviction, demolition till May 7

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday evening extended interim orders pertaining to eviction, demolition or dispossession passed after April 9 by various courts and authorities in Maharashtra till May 7 or until further orders, whichever is earlier. The decision was taken by the four-judge bench of HC in a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) given the alarming situation in the state due to the exponential rise in active Covid-19 cases. The court said that the interim orders shall remain in abeyance till May 7.

The full bench comprising of chief justice Dipankar Datta, justices AA Sayed, SS Shinde and PB Varale passed the order and said that all interim orders passed earlier by various courts on April 9, 12, 15 and expiring on April 19 or soon thereafter would be unconditionally extended till May 7 or until further orders unless specifically dealt with by any judicial order to the contrary.

Soon after the situation had improved last year, in December 2020, the full bench, had held that as citizens would be able to access various courts thereafter had said that the abeyance orders passed soon after the lockdown was announced last year and was extended from time to time need not be extended beyond January 31, 2021.

On Friday, the bench noted, “The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, has been wreaking havoc just as the first wave did in the year that went by.”

The bench further held that in light of the situation, measures and restrictions imposed by the state government had imposed rendered it difficult to conduct judicial proceedings in HC as well as other courts/tribunals in the districts/talukas in the physical presence of advocates, litigants and other stakeholders, and with the full complement of officers/staff. “As an obvious consequence, access to justice has been hindered,” observed the full bench.

With regards to the functioning of HC and lower courts, a committee comprising administrative judges of the HC along with representatives of central and state government and various lawyer associations decided that subordinate courts would work in one shift of two and a half hours from April 19 and trial courts would take up cases of remand, bail and urgent criminal and civil matters through physical hearing.

The committee further decided that a limited number of benches of HC would conduct virtual hearings on urgent matters and set aside the regular hearings scheduled after April 19.