Court houses should continue to function amid the pandemic, the BAR Association of Sri Lanka has requested from the Judicial Service Commission yesterday (26).

Writing to the Chairman of the Judicial Service Commission, PC Jayantha Jayasuriya, the BASL mentioned that the functions of courthouses have been specifically excluded from the travel restrictions imposed up to the 7th June 2021 due to the pandemic. It requested that civil and criminal courts throughout the country and the two apex courts should function at least at the current minimum levels in order to ensure that urgent and essential matters are heard.

The BASL has also requested that adequate arrangements be made for filling of new cases and for other urgent and essential business in the registries. In the letter, it has been also appreciated that certain courts have already used innovative methods and modern technology for such matters in order to function and further requested that such methods be adopted in other courts.

To mitigate transport difficulties to the staff members, the BASL has also proposed in the letter to make arrangements to provide transport for designated court staff.