Supreme Court Stays Allahabad High Court Order Imposing Curbs In 5 Cities of Uttar Pradesh Amid Covid Surge
The Supreme Court while issuing notice, has stayed the order passed by the Allahabad High Court order imposing blanket lockdown in 5 cities of Uttar Pradesh till April 26.
The bench of Hon’ble Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice V Ramasubramanian & Justice AS Bopanna noted,
“Issue notice. SGI states that the state govt has issued several directions to contain the spread of CoVID & have been taking adequate precautions. He further submits that the blanket lockdown imposed by the Court in 5 cities in terms of the impugned order would create immense administrative difficulties. It would be as rigorous as a lockdown. The HC has observed that "they are nowhere close to a complete lockdown". In these circumstances there would be interim stay of the order.”, the CJI ordered.
SGI Tushar Mehta upon urgent mentioning requested the Court to take up the matter Today & while contending that imposition of lockdown in 5 states would not be appropriate submitted that the state had taken several steps to curb the spread of CoVID.
“Several directions issued by the Court have been taken, some of which the state has accepted & to some the state does not object.”, SGI further submitted.
The CJI further directed the State Government to immediately report to the High Court within one week with respect to the steps that the state govt was taking & proposed to take in regards the Covid Management in the state of UP.
The Bench also appointed Sr Adv PS Narsimha as amicus curiae in the matter.
The Bench was hearing a plea filed by the State of UP against the impugned interim order & judgement dated 19.04.2021 passed by the Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court in WP (PIL) No 574 of 2020 titled as Re Inhuman Condition at Quarantine Centres & For Providing Better Treatment to Corona Positive (Suo Moto) whereby the High Court imposed complete lockdown/ curfew in 5 of the major cities of State of UP namely Prayagraj, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar & Gorakhpur.
The Hon'ble Division Bench has passed the following interim directions:-
“.... Accordingly we are passing the following directions in respect of cities of Prayagraj, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar and Gorakhpur, and we direct 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.”
The petitioner in the plea averred that though the intention behind the impugned order passed by the Hon'ble Division Bench is both laudable and salutary, however, the Hon'ble High Court has completely failed to appreciate that while passing the direction of the nature as quoted above the Hon'ble High Court has effectively encroached upon the executive domain and has passed a mandamus which is incapable of being executed at the present stage, and if executed, is capable of creating panic, fear and law and order situation in the State.
“An irresistible belief of imposition of a lockdown for a week to provide a remedial action and to arrest the virulent spread of COVID-19 in the State, is not and cannot become the basis of exercise of the plenary constitutional powers conferred upon the Hon'ble High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. It is submitted that even under the PIL jurisdiction of the Hon'ble High Court a mandamus has to be granted on the basis of justiciable empirical data.”, the plea read.
It was also averred that the modalities which needed to be worked upon before imposing a lockdown/curfew essentially fell within the domain of executives. It was also contended that the effects of such an action had to be examined and such an action could only be taken after examining its pros and cons.
Thereafter, the petitioner prayed for passing an order granting stay of effect and operation of the impugned order dated 19.04.2021 passed by Hon’ble High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in PIL No. 574 of 2020.
Case Title: State Of U.P. v. High Court Of Judicature At Allahabad Through Registrar General Allahabad, U.P. (In Re: Inhuman Condition At Quarantine Centres And For Providing Better Treatment To Corona Positive)