Covid-19 scare has enveloped the Supreme Court of India as Four judges have tested positive for COVID-19 and more than 150 staff members are either positive or under quarantine until now. Earlier on Thursday, the news of 2 judges being tested positively for Covid-19 had appeared. As of now, four judges of the Supreme Court and over 150 court officials have tested positive for Coronavirus.
With four judges getting infected, the positivity rate among the judges has reached 12.5%.
Apart from four judges, five of the eight top court officers designated as Registrars, who are in charge of various sections which feed pending cases on a daily basis to the benches for hearing, have also been quarantined.
Now it has been learnt that a farewell party for a retiring judge may have been turned into a superspreader event, and an already infected judge may have spread the virus among the people who had attended the party.
The development came after a farewell party was hosted on Tuesday, January 04, by The CJI for retiring Justice R Subhash Reddy. Initially reluctant about the gathering of more than 30 judges, who had travelled to different locations during the winter break, The CJI agreed to host a high-tea for the retiring Justice.
However, it is was learnt that one of the judges who had mild fever during the event had mixed freely with all the judges. The said judge reportedly tested positive on Thursday and was admitted to Medanta hospital later.
The Supreme Court had already switched to virtual mode due to the emerging third wave of Covid-19 in the country. In the wake of the rising number of cases of omicron variant of Covid9, the apex court had decided to conduct all hearings through virtual mode for two weeks with effect from 3rd January 2021. However, later the CJI said that the court will not return to physical hearing for at least 4-6 weeks.
The CJI said on Thursday, “Unfortunately, again the problem has started and we are also conscious of this and It seems, we may not be able to hear cases through physical mode for the next four to six weeks. Apart from switching to virtual hearings, the court had decided that only extremely urgent matters especially those involving stay and bail will be listed before the courts.
