Gujarat High Court
Vinod Ramshanker Pandya vs State Of Gujarat on 13 May, 2020
Author: J.B.Pardiwala
Bench: J.B.Pardiwala, Ilesh J. Vora
C/WPPIL/68/2020 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/WRIT PETITION (PIL) NO. 68 of 2020
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VINOD RAMSHANKER PANDYA
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT
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Appearance:
MR KR KOSHTI(1092) for the Applicant(s) No. 1,2
for the Opponent(s) No. 2
MR KAMAL TRIVEDI, ADVOCATE GENERAL WITH MS MANISHA
LAVKUMAR SHAH GOVERNMENT PLEADER - ADVANCE COPY SERVED
TO GOVERNMENT PLEADER/PP(99) for the Opponent(s) No. 1
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA
and
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ILESH J. VORA
Date : 13/05/2020
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA) 1 By this writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, in public interest, the writ applicants have prayed for the following reliefs:
"(A) Your Lordships may be pleased to allow the present writ petition (P.I.L.) (B) Your Lordships may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ/order/direction to hold the order dated 06.05.2020 issued by respondent No.2 herein, as contrary to the guidelines dated 15.04.2020 and also violative of Article 21 of the Constitution.Page 1 of 7 Downloaded on : Fri May 15 21:03:52 IST 2020
C/WPPIL/68/2020 ORDER (C) Your Lordships may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ/order/direction to the respondent to quash and set aside impugned order dated 06.05.2020 and further be pleased to direct the respondent authority to restore the position to 05.05.2020 in the interest of justice.
(D) Your Lordships may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ/order/direction to the respondent to forthwith and without any delay roll back the "complete lockdown" that has been illegally imposed on the people of the city of Ahmedabad, in the interest of justice;
(E) No other and further relief/s are sought in the interest of justice."
2 The writ applicant No.1 claims himself to be a social activist and is the General Secretary of the Gujarat State Trained Graduate Committee, Convener of the Save Education Movement, Convener of the RTI Award Committee and the Coordinator of India against Corruption Movement. The writ applicant No.2 is a practicing advocate in the High Court of Gujarat.
3 This writ petition, in public interest, seeks to challenge the order dated 6th May 2020 issued by the respondent No.2 in exercise of Regulation 11 of the Gujarat Epidemic Diseases, COVID19 Regulations, 2020 framed under the provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.
4 The principal ground of challenge to the impugned order is that the same is contrary to the guidelines dated 15th April 2020 issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 10(2)(l) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
Page 2 of 7 Downloaded on : Fri May 15 21:03:52 IST 2020C/WPPIL/68/2020 ORDER 5 The impugned order dated 6th May 2020 reads thus:
"ORDER UNDER RULE11 FOR SOCIAL DISTANCING"
WHEREAS, the World Health Organization has declared the COVlD19 outbreak as a pandemic and Government of India has directed State Governments to take necessary steps to prevent and control the spread of this disease under the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897, AND WHEREAS, the Government of Gujarat in exercise of the power conferred under Section 2, 3 & 4 of the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897 has framed Regulations for prevention and containment of COVID19 under Order No. GP/Q/NCV/IOZOZO/SFl/G, dated 13'" March 2020 and Addendum issued vide Order No. NCV/102020/SF1/6,dated 20th March 2020.
WHEREAS, due to rising number of COVlD19 cases, It is necessary In the public interest to take adequate steps to stop further spread of COVl019. Now, therefore, in exercise of power conferred under Rule 11 of the said Regulations, I, Mukesh Kumar, Municipal Commissioner of Ahmedabad city In exercise of said powers conferred upon me hereby direct to implement the following directions for effective implementation of social distancing and to minimize crowding to reduce the spread of infection in the city of Ahmedabad:
All shops/parlours shall be closed except providing only milk and medicines.
All shops/venders shall be closed providing fruits, vegetables and groceries.
This order will be effective from 00.00 hrs., 7 th May 2020 to 06.00 hrs.. 15th May 2020.
Deputy Municipal Commissioners and Assistant Municipal Commissioners of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation are hereby authorized to take all necessary actions for implementation of the above measures. Failure to Page 3 of 7 Downloaded on : Fri May 15 21:03:52 IST 2020 C/WPPIL/68/2020 ORDER obey these orders shall be penalized under section 188 and section 270 of I.P.C. and Section 3 of the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897."
6 Mr. Koshti, the learned counsel appearing for the writ applicants submitted that by virtue of the impugned order, the State Government should not have imposed a complete lockdown, thereby putting the general public at large in lot of difficulties. According to Mr. Koshti, the impugned order will lead to many disastrous situation. People may go hungry, people may not be able to avail medical services, etc. It is submitted that by virtue of the impugned order, all shops including the grocery shops are closed. People are finding extremely difficult to survive without vegetables, pulses, etc. It is submitted that the State Government cannot expect people to survive only on milk. It is also submitted that by virtue of Section 72 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the order dated 15th April 2020 of the Government of India issuing the guidelines under the said Act overrides the impugned order dated 6th May 2020 issued by the State authorities under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.
7 In such circumstances referred to above, Mr. Koshti, the learned counsel prays that the impugned order of lockdown deserves to be quashed and set aside.
8 On the other hand, this writ application, in public interest, has been vehemently opposed by Mr. Kamal Trivedi, the learned Advocate General and Ms. Manisha Lavkumar Shah, the Government Pleader appearing for the respondents. Mr. Trivedi, the learned Advocate General submitted that there is no substance in the present writ application and the same deserves to be rejected at the threshold. Mr. Trivedi pointed out that both the above referred legislations are Central legislations enacted by the Government and they operate in two different fields. It is pointed out by Mr. Trivedi that the Act, 2005 has Page 4 of 7 Downloaded on : Fri May 15 21:03:52 IST 2020 C/WPPIL/68/2020 ORDER been enacted to provide for the effective management of disaster as defined under Section 2(d) of the said Act. On the other hand, the Act, 1897 has been enacted by the very Central Government to provide for the better prevention of the spread of dangerous epidemic diseases like the CORONA virus. It is submitted that the Act, 2005 is of general nature, whereas, the Act, 1897 is of a special nature and there is no question of any inconsistency between the same. Mr. Trivedi next contended that the impugned order has been issued in public interest, more particularly, keeping in mind the mortality rate compared to the recovery rate. It is argued that the State authorities noticed that the persons selling vegetables, fruits, groceries, etc, including the hawkers were found to be the super spreaders of CORONA virus. It is, in such circumstances, that the authority had to take a decision of complete lockdown for a period commencing from 7th May 2020 to 15th May 2020. It is pointed out by Mr. Trivedi that the imposition of the complete lockdown has brought about a good result showing in reduction in the death rate and increase in the recovery rate. It is also pointed out that the frequency of detection of new cases has also been substantially reduced.
9 In such circumstances referred to above, Mr. Trivedi, the learned Advocate General as well as Ms. Manisha Lavkumar Shah, the learned Government Pleader pray that there being no merit in this writ application, the same be rejected.
10 Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties and having gone through the materials on record, the only question that falls for our consideration is whether the impugned order of complete lockdown deserves to be quashed and set aside.
11 The impugned order dated 6th May 2020 referred to above has Page 5 of 7 Downloaded on : Fri May 15 21:03:52 IST 2020 C/WPPIL/68/2020 ORDER
been passed in exercise of power under Regulation 11 of the Gujarat Epidemic Diseases, COVID19 Regulations, 2020 framed under the provisions of the Act, 1897. It goes without saying that the same has been passed in public interest to take adequate steps to stop the further spread of COVID19. The Regulation 11 reads as under:
"If cases of COVID19 are reported from a defined geographic area such as village, town city, ward, colony, settlement, the District Administration of the concerned district shall have the right to implement following containment measures, but not limited to these, in order to prevent further spread of the disease.
(i) Sealing of the geographical area.
(ii) Barring entry and exit of population from the containment area.
(iii) Closure of schools, Offices and banning public gatherings.
(iv) Banning vehicular movement in the area.
(v) Initiating active and passive surveillance of COVID19 cases.
(vi) Hospital isolation of all suspected cases.
(vii) Designating any Government/Private building as containment unit for isolation of the cases.
(viii) Staff of all Government departments will be at disposal of District administration of the concerned area for discharging the duty of containment measures.
(ix) Any other measure as directed by Department of Health & Family Welfare."
12 Mr. Trivedi pointed out that the State authorities have issued further order dated 12th May 2020 coming out with the arrangement of the supply of all the essential needs including vegetables, fruits, groceries, etc with effect from 15th May 2020.
13 We are of the view that we should not interfere in such type of decision taken by the State Government. Such decision although may lead to immense hardships and difficulties for the people at large, yet, ultimately, it is with a view to protect the lives of the people. What is important is human life. When to impose lockdown, how to impose Page 6 of 7 Downloaded on : Fri May 15 21:03:52 IST 2020 C/WPPIL/68/2020 ORDER lockdown, how to implement the lockdown are all matters which should be left best to the authorities concerned and a writ Court under Article 226 of the Constitution should not interfere with such decision.
14 It is true that such lockdown leads to lot of hardships for a common man. In fact, the downtrodden class of the society is most affected because they would hardly have any food in their house. While declining to interfere with the impugned order of lockdown, we may only observe that the State Government should work out some modalities by virtue of which the hardship suffered by a common man is taken care of and is made minimal. We are sure that the necessary arrangements will be made by the State authorities for supply of essential needs including vegetables, fruits, groceries, etc with effect from 15th May 2020.
15 With the above observations, this writ application stands disposed of.
16 The Registry shall provide one copy each of this order to Mr. Trivedi, the learned Advocate General and Ms. Shah, the learned Government Pleader.
(J. B. PARDIWALA, J) (ILESH J. VORA,J) CHANDRESH Page 7 of 7 Downloaded on : Fri May 15 21:03:52 IST 2020