KOCHI, 21 AUG

Civets on Tuesday caused the halting of proceedings in the court of Kerala HC Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar following the "unbearable bad smell" from the mammals urinating in the false ceiling of the courtroom.

The urgent and new matters in the court's list were taken up quickly and adjourned to other dates by the division bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji, and then the room was closed for cleaning, court sources said.

A senior government pleader who was present in the court said that the civet urine smell issue had been there for the past few days, but since Monday afternoon, it had become "unbearable".

"Today morning also, the smell was very bad. So the urgent matters and those on the 'today's list' were quickly taken up by the bench, and after that the courtroom was closed around 11.30 am for cleaning," the lawyer said.

It was not clear whether the court would resume hearings on the day of the other matters on its list.

He also said that traps had been laid a day ago to catch the civets, and one of them was found trapped in it on Tuesday morning.

"The civets were holed up in the false ceiling of the Chief Justice's courtroom and had urinated there," he added.