Prayagraj: District court opens after 48 days; no signs social distancing

No arrangements were made to cross check whether any lawyer who was entering the compound had his cases listed before the court or not. Also, many were not even wearing any mask or covering their face as is mandatory as per set guidelines.

District court of Prayagraj opened after for 48 days due to lockdown here on Friday. The first day saw just 55 bail applications being listed for hearing but no proper arrangements to ensure social distancing among lawyers or staff inside the compound was seen.

No arrangements were made to ensure social distancing among lawyers or their staff who were standing in queues.

“More than 500 lawyers were allowed entry inside campus though only 55 cases were listed for hearing,” complained many lawyers.

An official with a temperature gun was standing on the main gate who was testing the temperature of everyone entering the compound.

However, no arrangements were made to cross check whether any lawyer who was entering the compound had his cases listed before the court or not. Also, many were not even wearing any mask or covering their face as is mandatory as per set guidelines.

“High Court had recently issued guidelines in which it was specifically said that only those advocates must be allowed entry inside court premises who had their case listed for hearing but no steps were made to ensure compliance. Anyone was allowed entry inside the compound after checking his temperature,” said advocate Manish Khanna, who practices at district court.

On the other hand, lawyers in high court were facing another problem. Court administration had set up a temporary counters for e-filing of cases but due to the limited number of counters, infrastructure and staff, case filing was taking more than usual time and no arrangements were made to ensure social distancing among lawyers or their staff who were standing in queues.

“I waited for more than an hour in the queue to file a bail application, it was an urgent matter but then I decided to return as neither social distancing was maintained in the queue nor any official with a temperature gun was there to check symptoms of COVID-19 in people who were standing in the line. I felt as if I am not only risking my life but also the life of my family member, “said advocate Susheel Tiwari, an advocate of Allahabad high court.