Due to increase in COVID cases, Supreme Court has agreed to revive limitation extension orders

In light of the escalating number of COVID cases in the country, the Supreme Court agreed on Monday to reinstate the suo motu rulings extending the limitation period for filing cases in Courts and Tribunals.

The Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) has asked the Court to restore the decisions extending limitation, according to a bench consisting of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice L Nageswara Rao, and Justice Surya Kant.

The bench stated that a detailed order will be issued in this regard.

SCAORA President Advocate Shivaji Jadhav stated that COVID cases have been increasing across the country in recent days and urged the restoration of the limited extension orders.

KK Venugopal, India’s Attorney General, backed the SCAORA petition, saying, “I think your lordships should accept.”

CJI NV Ramana stated, “We accept.”

According to the AG, he has presented a draught of the order that will be passed. The order will be uploaded when the CJI examines the details, according to the CJI. According to the AG, the limitation may need to be extended with effect from October 2, 2021, when the previous extension expired.

In the suo motu case “In Re Cognizance For Extension of Limitation,” the SCAORA filed a motion requesting reinstatement of the order dated March 23, 2020 and April 27, 2021, which extended the statutory limitation time for filing cases in light of the pandemic.

According to the application filed by Advocate Abhinav Ramakrishna, there has been a sudden and drastic change in the situation with regard to the pandemic, as a new variant, specifically Omicron, has seen a drastic rise, and considering the alarming rate at which the mortality rate due to Covid is rising, as well as the rise in new cases, it becomes necessary to restore the period of limitation relaxation.

It was said in the application that the new form of the covid has harmed a large number of Supreme Court employees, making it all the more imperative to extend the statute of limitations.

The Supreme Court had taken suo motu notice of the Covid-19 predicament and the resulting challenges that petitioners across the country may encounter in completing their petitions within the stipulated time limit in March 2020.

Following then, several orders were issued that extended the statute of limitations even more.

The Supreme Court, noting that the country was returning to normalcy, ended the extension of restriction on March 8, 2021, with effect from 14.03.2021, recognizing that the COVID-19 situation had improved.

However, during the second wave of Covid-19 in April 2021, the orders were resurrected. After observing that normalcy was returning, the same was revoked by order dated September 23, 2021, with effect from October 2, 2021.