Under what law you are doing it?: K'taka HC says Covid-19 travel curbs with Kerala against Centre's orders

Bengaluru, Mar 09: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday took strong exception to the the restrictions imposed by Karnataka government on the movement of public along the Kerala-Karnataka border due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report by Live Law (livelaw.in).

''Although a statement was made by the government advocate on the last hearing date (March 5) that the order will be modified, the court was informed today that the State government has not modified the order dated February 18, issued by the Deputy Commissioner of District Disaster Management Authority of Dakshina Kannada, by which it restricts entry of people from Kasargod district in Kerala to Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka only through four checkpoint and that too on producing a negative RT-PCR test certificate,'' the counsel pointed out.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty said "We have perused the government circular dated February 16. The government circular does not provide for closing of entry points on road from Kerala to Karnataka. Moreover, the action taken by the Deputy Commissioner is only of one district, though entry points are available in.''

As the hearing came to an end the court orally said "Convey our order correctly, we don't want restrictions being imposed in other districts."

The bench , which was hearing a PIL filed by one Subbaya Rai, also said that the state government should facilitate an infrastructure at border checkposts to check the RT-PCR test reports of travellers arriving from Kerala at the border points rather than sealing them.

The matter will next be heard on March 18. The Court has asked the Deputy Commissioner, Dakshina Kannada District, to file a statement.

Earlier the state government informed the state's high court that it had offered to modify several Covid-19 related travel restrictions that were imposed in the neighbouring state of Kerala amid an increase in its caseload.

Karnataka had sealed several roads and national highways with Kerala on February 22 after the former had seen the emergence of two Covid-19 clusters in Bengaluru. People from Kerala were only allowed entry after they produced a negative RT-PCR test report which was not older than 72 hours.