The Delhi High Court on Saturday announced that it has reduced the number of physical hearings it will have due to an “alarming” rise in COVID-19 cases and a majority of lawyers preferring virtual hearings.

Physical hearings started on September 1 and will not be completely discontinued. Starting September 15, “one division bench and two single judge benches on rotation” will have physical hearings. Until this decision, two division benches and three single judge benches were on rotation.

Lawyers indicated that they would be unwilling or reluctant to come into the physical courtroom. According to a court poll, 94 percent of lawyers felt this way.

Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court D N Patel stated that once physical hearings started, they would not stop. COVID-19 test results revealed that 45 high court officials and 192 district court officials had already contracted the disease.