Supreme Court limits its functioning due to novel coronavirus

The Supreme Court has decided to limit its functioning due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and hold hearing of only six out of 15 benches on Monday.

 

The six benches will take up for hearing only urgent matters and no persons, except lawyers concerned, will be allowed inside its courtrooms.

According to the circular issued by the apex court today, the six benches will comprise of Justices Arun Mishra and M R Shah, Justices U U Lalit and Vineet Saran, Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari, Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta, Justices L



Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhatt, Justices S K Kaul and Sanjiv Khanna.

The apex court has been mulling over the issue in its meetings held at the residence of Chief Justice of India S A Bobde on Thursday and Friday, as it took note of the Centre's March 5 advisory cautioning against mass gatherings and the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a 'pandemic'.

The apex court has sought cooperation in this regard considering the importance of the safety measures to maintain public health.