Citing high COVID-19 cases, Allahabad High Court on Monday imposed a lockdown in Prayagraj, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, and Gorakhpur till April 26.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed an order by the Allahabad High Court which imposed a near-total lockdown till April 26 in five cities of the state. It has asked UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to present a report on steps it has taken to control COVID-19 cases, before the Allahabad High Court. The matter was heard by CJI Sharad Bobde.
The Allahabad High Court on Monday imposed a lockdown in cities which included Prayagraj, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, and Gorakhpur till April 26. The UP Government in a quick rebuttal on Monday evening refused to implement this order and emphasized that the livelihood of the poor needs to be saved, reported India Today.
A bench of the Allahabad High Court comprising of Justice Ajit Kumar and Justice Siddhartha Varma noted that the recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases “has virtually incapacitated all medical infrastructure in the State of U.P.”
“Before (the Pandemic) further spirals to engulf in it the entire population of these badly hit districts, it is necessary to take some harsh steps in”
ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT
The Court, as per LiveLaw, also said that putting a lockdown on public activities was a matter purely in the nature of the policy decision by the concerned (state) government. However, “since no concrete plan had yet been chalked out by the Government of UP”, the Court had to step in.
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Notably, this is the second instance of the judiciary heavily criticizing a state government and its failure to take cognizance of the same. The Gujarat High Court recently gave a stern message to the Gujarat State government, after reports started coming in of data fudging and under-reporting of deaths. It asked them to give the real picture with regards to COVID-related data and insisted that they be more transparent with the people of the state in its communication and handling.
India recorded 2,59,170 cases and 1761 deaths in the last 24 hours. Uttar Pradesh officially reported 28,211 cases and 161 deaths while Gujarat recorded 11,403 cases and 117 deaths.
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