Supreme Court stays Allahabad HC order on lockdown in 5 Uttar Pradesh cities

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted an interim stay on the Allahabad High Court order directing lockdown in five cities of Uttar Pradesh in the backdrop of the worsening Covid19 situationSolicitor General Tushar Mehta representing the Uttar Pradesh government said the state government has accepted several directions of the High Court but imposing lockdown in five cities would not be appropriateMehta added that the state government has issued several directions to contain the spread of Covid19 and it has been taking adequate precautions A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde queried it would be as rigorous as a lockdown but the High Court had observed that they are nowhere close to a complete down After a hearing in the matter the bench said In these circumstances there would be interim stay of the orderThe top court observed that Mehta had submitted that the blanket lockdown imposed by the High Court in five cities in terms would create immense administrative difficultiesThe top court also appointed senior advocate PS Narasimha as amicus curiae while directing the state government to submit a report on steps it has taken and that it proposes to take to contain the pandemic The next hearing in the matter will be held after two weeksThe Uttar Pradesh government had moved the Supreme Court challenging the order passed by the Allahabad High Court imposing a near total lockdown in five cities in the stateEarlier during the day Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice seeking urgent listing Mehta submitted that a virtual lockdown has been imposed by way of a judicial order in cities like Prayagraj and Lucknow He urged the top court to hear the matter at the end of the boardFive cities in Uttar Pradesh Prayagraj Lucknow Varanasi Kanpur Nagar and Gorakhpur have been placed under curbs till April 26 to arrest the spread of the Covid19On Monday the Allahabad High Court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to close all establishments private or governmentrun in these cities However the court exempted those offering essential services and clarified that it is not imposing a lockdown in all of Uttar PradeshThe High Court pulled the government for its lack of response emphasizing that the medical system could collapse if urgent measures are not takenThis 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