KATHMANDU, AUGUST 14

The Supreme Court today decided to close its non-urgent court proceedings till August 31 due to spike in coronavirus cases. The court issued a press release saying it would allow urgent proceedings to go on unhindered, respecting the rule of social distancing and by adopting other precautionary measures.

The SC said it would allow urgent cases and proceedings such as registration and hearing of habeas corpus writ petition, withdrawal of cases and reconciliation process till August 31.

It has been known to all that even after the lifting of the nation-wide lockdown local authorities have been enforcing local lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. That has resulted in the court’s reducing the scope of its service.

The SC cited the reason for reducing the scope of its service saying that some of its staffers have also been infected with COVID-19 and some justices who were in contact with those infected staffers have been staying in home isolation. It said that NBA and the Supreme Court Bar Association had also urged the apex court to reduce the scope of its service in the face of the spike in COVID-19 cases. Those persons, requiring to meet the deadline for completing the court proceedings would have to appear before the court within the time frame fixed by the court on July 23, according to the SC.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 15, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.