Karnataka High Court to work for 11 Saturdays in 2021 to make up for time lost to COVID-19

The Karnataka High Court has decided to sit for eleven Saturdays in 2021, in order to make up for the loss of sitting days effected by the COVID-19 pandemic this year..A notification released on December 18 states that the Court shall be working for one Saturday every month in the next year (except for November 2021). The following are the list of Saturdays converted to working days for the new year: .Last Friday, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka had hinted that the Court would be sitting on Saturdays in 2021 in order to make up for the loss caused by the pandemic. .The Court had earlier cut short its winter break to make up for the working days lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. The vacation will now commence from December 24, 2020 and last till January 1, 2021..The winter vacation was earlier scheduled to commence from December 21..Interestingly, in October, the Karnataka High Court had seemingly set a new record with regard to video conference (VC) hearings. After conducting VC hearings for 25 days, the Court had pronounced a 333-page judgment in a batch of pleas challenging the winding up of six debt fund schemes of Franklin Templeton..A Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S Kinagi before pronouncing its judgment, had remarked that it might be the longest virtual hearing held for a single case amid the pandemic..[Read notification].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.