IMPORTANT POINTS
Right of personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India should not, at any rate, be infringed by arresting an accused, except in matters where arrest is inevitable. However, the State is at liberty to take appropriate decision in respect of heinous/serious offences and in rest of the cases, State may act accordingly.

ORDER

1. On 25.3.2020, a Hon'ble Full Bench of this Court, after considering the submissions of learned counsel for the parties, at paragraph Nos. 4 and 5, passed the following order:

“4. We are informed that the High Court as well as the Courts in the District Judiciary and Tribunals have granted interim orders for a limited period and inasmuch as the litigants, their respective counsel, will not be in a position to approach the Courts/Tribunals for filing an application for extension, during this total lock down period of 21 days, necessary orders have to be issued, so as to enable the litigants not to suffer on account of their inability to approach the Courts in the Districts/Tribunals, as the case may be. Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, all the interim orders passed by all the Courts/Tribunals upon which High Court exercises supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227, which are due to expire during the lock down period of 21 days, are extended by this Court by one month from today.

5. We also make it clear that, if any application is filed for extending/vacating an interim order and pending for orders in this Court, the interim orders will be extended for one month.”

2. Subsequently, another Full Bench of this Court on 30.3.2020 at paragraph 8, passed the following order:

“8. Before parting with, it is made clear that the extension granted to the interim orders, through order of this court dated 25-03-2020 will stand further extended upto 18-05- 2020, the date of re-opening of the courts after mid-summer vacation. However the aggrieved party will be at liberty to move for vacating such orders, before the appropriate court. All other directions contained in the order of this court dated 25-03-2020, will continue to be in force.”

3. On this day, when the matter came up for hearing, we heard Mr. Ranjith Thampan, learned Additional Advocate General, Mr. Jaishankar V. Nair on behalf of learned Assistant Solicitor General, representing the Government of India and Public Sector undertakings owned and controlled by the Government of India, and Mr. R. Lakshmi Narayan on behalf of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association.

4. With the consent of all concerned, interim order granted in respect of orders passed by Courts/ Tribunals upon which High Court exercises supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227, which are due to expire during the lock down period, are extended till 30.6.2020. However, as stated supra, the aggrieved party is at liberty to move for vacating such orders before the appropriate Courts/Tribunals, as the case may be.

5. Insofar as recovery proceedings under State Laws are concerned, taking note of the submissions of Mr. Ranjith Thampan, learned Additional Advocate General, Government of Kerala, on 25.3.2020 at paragraph No.6, we recorded the submission as hereunder:

“6. In so far as recovery proceedings under the State Laws are concerned, Shri Ranjith Thampan, learned Additional Advocate General submitted that, in all recovery matters, such as electricity, water, Abkari and other matters, Council of Ministers, Government of Kerala has already taken a decision that payment will be deferred upto 30.04.2020, and therefore, no recovery proceedings would be initiated or recovery proceedings already initiated, would not be proceeded further until 30.04.2020. The submission of the learned Additional Advocate General is placed on record.”

Thereafter, at paragraph 23, we passed the following order:

“23. Shri Ranjith Thampan, learned Additional Advocate General also submitted that, in so far as Local Self Government Institutions are concerned, Government have issued instructions not to take any coercive action. It is sincerely expected that, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, State Government, LSG Institutions, Government of India, and Public Sector Undertakings owned and controlled by the State/Central Governments that no coercive action be taken since there i