Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court Tuesday pulled up the state government for being casual on implementing social distancing norms as a means to check the spread of Covid-19.
The court told the government that it is ‘playing’ with the lives of citizens by not implementing social distancing in public places.
The court wanted legal sanction to social distancing so that it could be implemented as a rule, rather than just a guideline.
Chief Justice AS Oka asked the state and central government to clarify their position on how to legally implement physical distancing norms.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a Bengaluru-based organisation, Letzkit Foundation, over the violation of physical distancing norms in the state.
The petitioner said roadshows and other events are being held by politicians by all political parties and that politicians are violating the lockdown norms.
“Without naming any political party, we have submitted photographic evidence of such events and also of the recent funeral of an actor in south Bengaluru where there were multiple violations,” advocate Puttige Ramesh, who appeared on behalf of the petitioner, told The News Minute.
The court wondered if public can report incidents of violation of social distancing norms and asked if the state had taken any action against violators and under which legal provisions.
The Court asked the state government to urgently "set its house in order.”
Meanwhile, after days of relative lull, the State witnessed a spike in Covid cases on Tuesday with 317 Covid positive cases, taking the total to 7530. The state also reported seven Covid deaths, taking the toll to 94.
Bengaluru reported 47 new cases of which three were nurses engaged in Covid duty in Victoria Hospital.
