44 SC employees test positive for Covid, judges work from home as precautionary measure

With some of the Covid-positive staff included those posted in courtrooms, the premises were shut for a day for complete sanitisation.

The Supreme Court of India | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

New Delhi: Forty four employees of the Supreme Court tested positive for Covid-19 last week following which the premises, including the courtrooms, were sanitised Monday, ThePrint has learnt.

The development pushed the judges to conduct virtual court hearings from their residential offices for the day. As a result, the courts assembled an hour later than the scheduled time of either 10:30 am or 11:30 am.

Sources in the Supreme Court registry told ThePrint that a consolidated report of the tests conducted last week was received Saturday. It showed that 44 out of around 100 employees, who were tested, turned out positive for the coronavirus. The top court has around 2,600 employees.

As some of these staff members included those posted in courtrooms, it was suggested that courtrooms be shut down for a day for complete sanitisation, a senior officer said.

Court hearings in the apex court had switched to virtual mode more than a year ago when Covid-induced lockdown was imposed in the country on 24 March 2020. Since then, the judges have held hearings from their residential offices.

However, some judges started sitting in the courtroom halls of the Supreme Court earlier this year, but hearings continued on the digital platforms.

In a few instances the benches also assembled virtually with one judge choosing to be in the Supreme Court, while the other worked from their residential offices. But Monday all the judges decided to hear matters from their residences.

Regular testing in SC

The officer quoted above said the top court had set up a testing laboratory within its premises last year itself. “It is meant for our staff members and is purely voluntary. We make sure that confidentiality is maintained and the identity of whoever is tested positive is not revealed,” he said.

These employees have been getting themselves tested on regular basis, but the numbers are staggering, the officer added.

“Sometimes it’s 10 employees a day and on some days, it has even gone up to 30. Every Saturday we get a weekly report regarding these tests following which we take precautionary measures such as sanitising the premises or the section where the employees found positive are posted,” he said.