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Considering the rapid surge of COVID19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad high court has imposed curbs in 5 cities of Uttar Pradesh - Prayagraj, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar/ Dehat and Gorakhpur in a first of its kind order.

The division bench of Justices Ajit Kumar & Siddhartha Verma noted,

“We are conscious of the fact that before imposing a lockdown the concerned government has to work out various modalities. In this order if we have not imposed a lockdown it does not mean that we do not believe in it. We are still of the view that if we want to break the chain a lockdown for a duration of at least two weeks is a must.

Before it (COVID) further spirals to engulf in it the entire population of these badly hit districts, it is necessary to take some harsh steps in larger public interest, observed the bench.

Keeping in mind the recent surge of pandemic COVID-19 which, the bench noted has virtually incapacitated all medical infrastructure in the State of U.P. and especially in cities like Prayagraj, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur and Gorakhpur, it has been observed by the High Court court that is seems as if the pandemic is teasing the system in a situation where patients have outnumbered the hospital beds and people are just running from pillar to post and in this process attendants of patients are not only getting infected but others in public are also getting infected and a complete chain has got formed.

Court has further ruled that no concrete plan has yet been chalked out in the light of our observations made in our last order and though some efforts of course, have been made to engage some private hospitals to convert them as Covid hospitals, but even there facilities available are not upto mark. We also do not see anything new in the government guidelines issued on 17.04.2021, court added.

The court condemned and opined that is a shame that while the Government knew of the magnitude of the second wave it never planned things in advance.

“Economy, economy and economy is the only tune that the government is all the time harping upon, but bread and butter if you take to a person who needs oxygen and medication, it will be of no use to him. You may have grocery shops with full of eatables and industries which produce bikes and cars but all this won’t be of any use if your medical shops run out of stock of life saving drugs like Remdesvire in the current surge of pandemic.”
- Allahabad High Court

Further, making remarks on the night curfews the court stated that,

“The night curfew in the name of Corona Curfew and the weekend Curfew are nothing else but a mere eyewash. It was probably an effort to show that our last order had been taken care of. We are however, not satisfied at all. We see people are largely not following our order for putting masks on their faces nor, the police could ensure 100% masking till date.”

On elections, the bench observed,

“We must record our displeasure the way government and the State Election Commission proceeded to hold election forcing teachers and other government staff to perform duties exposing themselves to the threat of pandemic that looms large these days. The police was virtually shifted to polling places giving priority to election above public health.... In the state of Uttar Pradesh where COVID-19 has taken the form of a pandemic the authorities which were holding the Panchayat elections, were fully in the know of the fact that no activity had to take place where it was not possible to keep people away from each other.”

The bench in its view decided to take against the organisers who did not anticipate such eventualities under the Uttar Pradesh Public Health Epidemic Diseases Act, 2020 and/ or any other relevant Act in force. The action shall be placed before the court on the next date fixed.

Further, the bench noted the VIP culture prevalent in hospitals and observed that,

“We find from the scenario that emerges from the Government Hospitals that admission of patients to ICUs are largely being done on the recommendation of VIPs. Even supply of life saving anti-viral drug namely Remdesivire is being provided only on the recommendation of VIPs. VIPs and VVIPs are getting their RT-PCR report within 12 hours, whereas, ordinary citizen is kept waiting for such reports for two to three days and thus, spreading further infection to other members of his/her family. If popular government has its own political compulsions in not checking public movements during this pandemic, we cannot remain mere passive spectators. Public health is the top most priority and call of the moment and any complacency of any degree today will cause havoc to people. We can’t shirk away from our constitutional duty to save innocent people from the pandemic which is spreading due to the negligence of a few.”

Therefore, accordingly the court has passed the following directions in respect of cities of Prayagraj, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar and Gorakhpur, and directed the government to strictly enforce them forthwith –

1. All establishments be it government or private, except financial institutions and financial departments, medical and health services, industrial and scientific establishments, essential services including municipal functions, and public transport, shall remain closed till 26th April, 2021. The judiciary will however, function on its own discretion;

 2. All shopping complexes and malls shall remain closed till 26th April, 2021;

3. All grocery shops and other commercial shops excluding medical shops, with more than three workers shall remain closed till 26th April, 2021;

4. All hotels, restaurants and even the small eating points on thelas etc. shall remain closed till 26th April, 2021;

 5. All institutions like educational institutions and other institutions relating to other disciplines and activities be it government, semi government or private shall remain closed including for their teachers and instructors and other staff till 26th April, 2021 (this direction is for the whole of Uttar Pradesh);

6. No social functions and gatherings including marriage functions shall be permitted till 26th April, 2021. However, in case of already fixed marriages a necessary further permission would have to be taken from the District Magistrate of the concerned district. Gatherings would be limited to 25 persons and the district magistrate concerned shall take decision after giving due consideration to the prevailing situation of the impact of Covid 19 including notification of containment zones in the area where such marriage has to take place;

7. All religious activities in public of any kind is directed to remain suspended till 26th April, 2021;

8. All religious establishments of any kind are directed to remain closed till 26th April, 2021;

9. All hawkers including fruits and vegetable vendors, milk vendors and bread vendors, shall go off the road by 11 AM every day till 26th April, 2021;

10. Containment zones shall be notified every day in two leading Hindi and English newspapers having wide circulation in the districts of Prayagraj, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar/ Dehat and Gorakhpur.

11. All public movements on roads would remain restricted completely, subject to above directions. Movements would be only allowed in case of medical help and emergencies.

12. In addition to the above directions, we direct the State Government to go robust for implementing the current vaccination programme.

A copy of the same has been sent to the concerned authorities and directed the government to consider imposition of a complete lockdown in the entire state for at least a period of two weeks. As this would not only break the chain of the spread of the virus but would also give respite to health workers.

Case title : In-Re Inhuman Condition At Quarantine Centres And For Providing Better Treatment To Corona Positive v State of U.P., 2021