The Rent Restrictions Tribunal is set to resume physical court hearings in Nairobi and Nakuru from June 14.
In a statement dated June 7, the Tribunal's Chairman Hillary Korir said this is in line with the directive given by the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, Anne Amadi.
"Physical registry services are herby reinstated at the Nairobi and Nakuru Rent Tribunals. parties are encouraged to continue filing pleadings, applications, affidavits, submissions through efiling.court.go.ke," Korir said.
The resumption of in-court hearings will have cases running in two sessions in the morning and in the afternoon with 30 minute breaks in between for sanitization of the courtrooms.
Each session will last one hour 45 minutes, Mondays to Thursdays.
"The courtrooms may only accommodate 16 people per session; two members of the bench, one court assistant and 13 litigants," Korir added.
Parties with pending matters that were scheduled for hearing and mention between March 28 and June 10, 2021 have been asked to fix new dates at the registry.
Other cases will continue as scheduled.
In March 26, 2021, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced a cessation of movement into and out of the counties of Nairobi, Kiambu, Kajiado, Machakos and Nakuru as a block, as the country experienced the third wave of Covid-19.
At the time, Kenya's Covid positivity rate had jumped tenfold from 2.6% in January to 22% in March.
Physical church services, Court sessions, political gatherings and dinning in restaurants were all prohibited.
Uhuru lifted the lockdown in the Covid-19 high risk zone of five counties on May 1, 2021, allowing "controlled" normal services to resume, including court sessions.
