The district court had taken a turn back to normalcy in November 2020 by allowing entry to litigants and witnesses, whose physical entry is required, and their counsels.
While life at the district court of Chandigarh took a turn for normal when physical hearing resumed in November 2020, advocates are yet to clock in 100 per cent attendance at the complex.
The district court complex has around 3,500 advocates, members of DBA, Chandigarh.
The district court had taken a turn back to normalcy in November 2020 by allowing entry to litigants and witnesses, whose physical entry is required, and their counsels.
“Courts are opening up step by step. Most of the advocates have started working and we are hoping to achieve 100 per cent working of courts in near future. There was no physical hearing for almost 9-10 months and the entire advocate community was struggling due to pandemic of Covid-19. With the resumption of physical hearing in all courts at district court, the advocates are happy and are hoping that entire work revives in the near future. The attendance of Advocates and the litigants should increase now with time as people have also started to get vaccinated,” said Gagan Aggarwal, Secretary, District Bar Association, Chandigarh.
“Though the functioning is somehow restricted due to Covid-19 protocols, but from January 2021 onwards, Advocates have started reaching their chambers and the number is increasing every week. Now maximum Advocates come and attend their office chambers, and also meet the litigants, which motivates others to bring normalcy to court functioning,” said Dikshit Arora, Advocate and member of the District Bar Association, Chandigarh.
Meanwhile, vendors at the complex also expressed happiness about life springing back in the complex.
Mahesh Kumar, the famous Jalebi maker at the Chandigarh district courts recently returned to his booth. While his earnings have not touched the pre-pandemic levels, Kumar is happy to see attendance increasing by the day.
Mahesh who owns a booth at the Court complex, said he used to sell almost 35-40 kg Jalebis in a day before the pandemic struck, but sales have dropped to just 8-10 kg a day, forcing him to increase prices. A kilo of jalebi that used to sold at Rs 120 per kg is now sold at Rs 160 per kg. “The sale is less as of now, I am now selling fruit juice and tea as well to increase the total earnings,” added Kumar.
Anil Sharda, owner of a photocopy shop at the complex, meanwhile groused the shift to online medium, which has had a severe impact on his business.
“Though there was very restrictive working of Courts during the lockdown period, I was asked to run the booth in June 2020, but there was no work at all,” he said.
Sharda, who used to make around 3000 photocopies a day before the pandemic struck, now only makes 500-800 copies a day.
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