Deadline for filing cases, petitions and appeals at various courts extended

Due to the prevalence of Covid-19, the Supreme Court has extended the deadline for filing criminal and civil cases, various petitions and appeals at various courts of the country till August 31.

A six-member virtual bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order on Thursday.

As a result of this order, the deadline for filing criminal and civil cases, various petitions, appeals and other applications which have expired since March 26 has been extended.

The court passed the order on the strength of Article 104 of the Constitution.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, former Attorney General AF Hasan Arif, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association Advocate AM Amin Uddin and others were connected with the court through video conference during the time.

The court order said, "The deadline for filing criminal cases, petitions, appeals, revisions in criminal, civil and administrative courts or tribunals which have expired from March 26 till now should be extended till August 31."

Due to the outbreak and infection of the global pandemic coronavirus, the normal judicial activities of all the courts of the country, including the Supreme Court, have been shut down since March 26.

On May 9, the President issued an ordinance to run a virtual court. Separate practice guidelines were issued on May 10 for the Supreme Court, the High Court and the lower courts to conduct virtual courts according to the ordinance.

After the enactment of the law on virtual courts, the courts of the country began to conduct judicial proceedings in a virtual manner.

Judicial proceedings through physical presence started from August 5 in the lower courts of the country.