HC gives Maha 2 more days to decide on curbs for unvaccinated

The Bombay High Court announced the decision on Monday, as the state saw a significant declining trend in its daily Covid-19 cases. 

The Maharashtra government last week had withdrawn three of its circulars issued last year, by which only fully vaccinated people were allowed to use the local trains, and to go to public places like malls and movie theatres.

The state’s move to withdraw the circulars came after the Bombay HC said those orders were illegal and issued without following the procedure prescribed under provisions of the Disaster Management Rules.

The court was hearing a bunch of Public Interest Litigations challenging the prohibition on use of local trains in the city by unvaccinated people, saying it 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 Constitution. 

The state government had last week told the HC that the state executive committee would hold a meeting on 25 February, after which fresh directives would be issued. 

On Monday, government pleader P P Kakade told the court that the meeting was held, but sought two more days for the order to be issued.

 “The minutes of the meeting and all other relevant material have been placed before the chief secretary for his signature. The government officials are busy and held up due to the ongoing Ukraine crisis as several students from Maharashtra are stranded there,” Kakade said. 

The bench agreed and posted the matter for further hearing on March 2, but also said no further time would be granted. “Your (government) chief secretary is retiring today. Don’t take more time on this ground,” Chief Justice Datta said. 

To this, Kakade said the chief secretary would sign the fresh order before retiring. 

Maharashtra’s fresh Covid-19 cases declined further on Sunday, when the state reported 782 new cases, taking the total tally to 78,65,298. The state also logged two Covid-19 related deaths, in Navi Mumbai and Solapur, thereby pushing the toll to 1,43,697, an official said.