Delhi High Court says no to Air Conditioners to prevent spread of coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

New Delhi: In order to contain the spread of coronavirus, the Delhi High Court committee for a graded action plan on Thursday (April 30) discussed the use of fans in the court instead of Air Conditioners (ACs). The judges discussed this as one of the measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the court. 

The use of fans in the court was considered as a measure suggested by PWD engineers to foil the apprehension that the centralized ACs may infect others with coronavirus if droplets of an infected remain in the air.

The committee also evaluated the risk of spreading infection through centralized air conditioning in Delhi High Court as the lockdown ends. A report on options for running centralized AC was also submitted and one of these was to install Ultra Violet Germicide Iradication devices. 

A concern, however, was raised that even if these devices are installed with a lot of expenditure, there was no certainty of checking the deadly virus completely.

The engineers informed the panel that even Supreme Court has avoided switching on its Air conditioning, suggesting that it would be appropriate to procure a sufficient number of fans and install them in all blocks.

The PWD, which will submit a proposal after conducting a survey of the campus, will have to check all the doors and windows to have a proper net and mesh to prevent mosquitoes and insects from entering the courts. 

The committee also discussed hearing urgent matters through video conferencing and resolved that advocates need not wear coats, bands, and ties for such hearings, but they shall adhere to the remaining dress code. 

The committee, however, issued various directions to the Family Courts to start taking up matters and decided that the cases where arguments are complete and their Order or judgment has been reserved should be given priority.