The Supreme Court on Tuesday put on hold an Allahabad High Court order for a week-long lockdown in five Uttar Pradesh districts, Prayagraj, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar, and Gorakhpur, which are reporting a dramatic increase in Covid-19 incidents, until April 26.
The Yogi Adityanath-led UP government challenged the High Court order in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, refusing to enforce it.
Though halting the lockout, the Supreme Court ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to report to the Allahabad High Court the different measures it has taken to combat the pandemic within a week.
During the hearing, the Uttar Pradesh government advised the bench that the Allahabad high court’s order would cause enormous logistical difficulties and that a judicial lockdown may not be the best solution.
Senior advocate P S Narasimha was also chosen as an amicus curiae by the Supreme Court to support it in subsequent proceedings in the UP lockout case.
The High Court issued the order on Monday, stating that the increasing number of Covid cases had made Uttar Pradesh’s medical system “virtually inoperable.”
The government’s only tune is “economy, economy, economy,” which it repeats over and over. However, if you provide bread and butter to someone who needs oxygen and medicine, it will be useless. You may have a plethora of convenience stores and factories producing bicycles and automobiles, but none of this would help if the prescription stores run out of life-saving medications… It’s a shame that, despite knowing the size of the second surge, the government never thought ahead,” the court had said.
The Uttar Pradesh administration, on the other hand, declined to abide by the Allahabad High Court’s decision. Navneet Sahgal, the government’s Additional Chief Secretary for Information, said on Monday that the government would introduce further controls, but that in addition to protecting lives, it had to consider livelihoods.
The government said in a statement that it had already taken multiple steps to avoid the spread of the disease, including containment areas, night curfews, a Sunday bandh, and gathering restrictions. The measures would assist in the containment of the outbreak, and the government has stated that it is not considering a full lockdown at this time.
