Staffers at Justice Shah’s residence test Covid positive

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court judge Justice M R Shah Thursday said that all staff members at his official residence have tested positive for the Covid-19 virus and “things are getting scary”.

Justice Shah, who was sitting on the bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud, rose before the scheduled lunch break after telling the participants about the coronavirus infection of his staff members.

When the bench re-assembled around 2 PM, Justice Shah, on being inquired about the well being of those at the residence, said, “with the God’s grace I am ok. I am perfectly ok. Yes, things are getting scary”. Justice Chandrachud adjourned hearing in other matters, except in the case in which proceedings were undergoing, saying since Justice Shah is busy in managing things at his home, the court will only take one item and then rise for the day. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati said the court should take its own time to deal with the situation when the information about the infection was shared by the judge.

Over 40 staffers of the apex court had tested positive for novel coronavirus infection a few days ago.

Amid sudden rise in Covid-19 cases, the apex court and its registry have come out with notifications and office orders to curb the rise in such infections.

One of the notifications suspended physical mentioning of cases for urgent hearing by advocates from April 12 till further orders.

On April 13, the top court’s Registry came out with an office order which allowed officials to work from home if they were not required to attend office on a given day and authorised registrars to regulate attendance.