NCLAT suspends court works after some staff members test Covid-19 positive

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has suspended all its court works, including virtual hearing and filing, after some of its staff tested COVID-19 positive.

Earlier, one staff member posted in its record section had tested positive on September 30, which necessitated the suspension of work on October 1 in order to carry out the sanitisation of the NCLAT premises and required judges and other staff to undergo testing.

After that test, four more staff members, out of which three are from the record section, tested positive for COVID-19 on October 4, 2020.

"Now, therefore, a fresh exercise of sanitisation/disinfection has to be undertaken and the record lying in the record room has to be subjected to the process of disinfection/sanitisation before laying before the benches.

"Hence, as directed by acting chairperson, the court work (virtual hearing) and filing etc, in the NCLAT will remain suspended till October 6, 2020," said an NCLAT notification issued by the Registrar on October 4.

Presently, like other judicial/quasi-judicial bodies, the NCLAT is conducting virtual hearing through video conferencing, which was started during the lockdown.