The Madras High Court on Monday suspended judicial work in all trial courts across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in view of the steady surge in the number of persons testing positive for COVID-19.
According to an official memorandum issued by Registrar General P. Dhanabal, the trial courts shall not take up any judicial proceedings, except for remand applications and other unavoidable matters, until further orders.
The memorandum has been issued on a day when a Chief Judicial Magistrate in Tirunelveli died due to COVID-19 and days after the Tamil Nadu Judges Association requested the High Court to permit judicial officers to work from home.
The memorandum also stated that litigants and lawyers would be prohibited from entering court complexes across the State and the Union Territory unless such entry was unavoidable and had been permitted by the judicial officer concerned.
The judicial officers and court staff had also been instructed not to attend court unless it was absolutely necessary.
