HC asks Maha govt to submit records of Covid-19 SOPs banning local train travel for unvaccinated people

The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to submit all files and records pertaining to three Covid19 standard operating procedures SOPs issued in July and August 2021 which included the restriction on the use of local trains by unvaccinated peopleA bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik asked for the files after the state government informed that the restriction on local train travel had been invoked by the then state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte considering the Covid19related emergency at the timeWhat was the emergency that enabled the chief secretary to take a decision all by himself and the fundamental rights of the citizens were curtailed the court askedThe bench was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations challenging the prohibition on the use of local trains in the city by unvaccinated persons stating that the move was illegal arbitrary and in breach of the citizens fundamental right to move freely across the country as guaranteed by Article 19 1 d of the ConstitutionThe PILs challenged the three SOPs issued by the state government on July 15 August 10 and August 11 last year that included the restriction on local train travelAdvocate Niles Ojha the counsel for one of the petitioners had previously argued that the state had failed to apply its mind to the SOPs and discriminated between the vaccinated and unvaccinated persons though neither the Centre nor state government had made vaccination mandatoryOn Friday senior counsel Anil Anturkar who appeared for the state government told the bench that as Kunte had since vacated the office of the state chief secretary he had not filed any affidavit in the court explaining the rationale behind such prohibitionAt that time people were dying of Covid19 and the chief secretary considered the situation to be that of an emergency Anturkar saidHe further submitted that while the August 10 2021 SOP had been signed by the state government signifying that it was the decision of the state executive committee the other two had been signed by Kunte since he was the chairperson of the committeeThe High Court however pointed out that as per the states own records the secretaries of departments such as home revenue finance and relief and rehabilitation were members of the state executive committeeThey secretaries of the departments mentioned above probably have offices in the same premises If it was such an emergency then couldnt the chief secretary call at least one or two of them the bench askedThe court then said that it wanted all the records pertaining to the three SOPsWe need to look into the relevant records and files pertaining to the SOPs under challenge Let the entire recordsfiles be placed before us on February 21 the court said adding that it will then decide whether the chief secretary should be called upon or notThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever