Madras High Court notifies guidelines for moving matters amid COVID-19 Lockdown [Read notification]

The Madras High Court has notified guidelines for filing cases before the Principal Bench at Chennai during the period of its restricted functioning amid the COVID-19 lockdown. .The notification issued on Friday intimates that, in view of the inconvenience to be faced by the lawyers and litigants in physically attending court proceedings due to the lockdown, hearings for extremely urgent matters shall be conducted via video-conferencing or other compatible modes as intimated by the Registry from time-to-time. .The notification further maps out the following procedure for moving matters involving extreme urgency during this time:The Advocate/Party should email the scanned copy of the Petition / Application / Grounds of Appeal, along with the requisite documents, the scanned copy of the Memo containing not more than 200 words citing the urgency involved and the precisely made Written Arguments. These have to be sent in PDF Format to the email ID: m.jothiraman@aij.gov.in and to the email ID of the designated officer concerned of the Registry. The email ID of the designated officer, depending on the kind of the case being moved, has been detailed in the notification. If the Advocate/Party intends to file the case against the Union or State Government, a Carbon Copy (CC) of the same is required to be marked to the respective Law Officers. The email IDs of the concerned Law Officers have been detailed in the notification.The Memo sent shall, inter-alia, clearly contain the case-details, contact-details of the Advocate/Party - including email ID, mobile number and alternate number(s), Enrolment number and residence / office address with Pin Code. The said Memo shall also contain an undertaking that the party/counsel will abide with the instructions given by the Information Technology Wing of the Registry for the effective functioning of Court through Video Conferencing.The applicable court fee and other charges shall be remitted through the E-stamping facility by utilizing the services of Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL) online or otherwise. The scanned acknowledgement receipt for the said remittance shall be sent along with the copy of the Petition / Application / Appeal.Advocates/Parties are required to remit court fee and other charges that are payable to the Appeals / Petitions/Applications so far filed through email and Registered by the Registry i.e. from March 26, 2020 to April 17, 2020 within two weeks from the date of regular court functioning.Upon receipt of the case papers along with the Memo by the Registry, the same shall be placed before the High Court through e-mode, for obtaining permission. If the High Court grants permission, then only will the case be taken up on file. Otherwise, the case shall deemed to be considered as a non-emergent case.The Advocate/Party will be intimated by the designated officer via email or other meands of communication if the High Court decides to entertain the case on urgent basis.If the High Court insists on a hard copy of the case papers, the Advocate/Party shall make necessary arrangements to furnish the hard copies sought for. The said hard copy of the case papers shall be handed over to the Registry in the Pass Counters near the Dr.Ambedkar Statue in the High Court campus from 10.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. during Court working days.The Court Registry will act only upon such emails that are sent to the email ID as notified. The reply to the emails would be sent by the designated officer concerned, only when the High Court so directs, to the same email ID from where the request for urgent hearing would have come or by other means of communication as per the directions of the High Court.Instructions for participating in the Court proceedings through Video Conferencing will be intimated to the Advocates/Parties by the Registry..[Read the Notification]