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Showing contexts for: Lockdown in Sh. Y.S Dwivedi vs Directorate Of Estate & Anr. on 14 July, 2020Matching Fragments
4. The petitioner further submits that due to the present pandemic of COVID-19, the movement of all citizens was restricted and the Government of India in consonance with the advisory of the WHO advised all the citizens to stay home to be safe and that thereafter, also a series of lockdowns were imposed by the Government till 30.05.2020 with some relaxations in green zones where cases of Covid-19 were nil or very less. The petitioner has further submitted that after the nationwide lockdown was imposed by the Central Government with effect from 25.03.2020, the respondent no. 1 was morally as well as legally bound to extend the retention period of all the officers who were due to vacate the allotted housed by March, 2020 till the lockdown was in effect and thus, the respondent no.1 vide its order dated 25.03.2020 suo moto extended the retention of such allottees till 31.05.2020. The said Office Memorandum dated 25.03.2020 has been annexed by the petitioner to the present petition as Annexure- P-3 which accorded a one-time relaxation to the allottees of the General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA) in view of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The said Office Memorandum dated 25.03.2020 reads to the effect:-
7. The petitioner submits that he had planned to finish construction of his house in Lucknow by the first week of June 2020 and had also alternatively planned to take a rental accommodation in Delhi if the construction did not finish in time and that due to the lockdown the petitioner was unable to go to Lucknow to get the construction finished and that in the State of Uttar Pradesh, a lockdown is still imposed in some regions and borders of Uttar Pradesh are also restricted for transit from Delhi and it was thus submitted by the petitioner that till 30.05.2020, the lockdown was in place with full restriction and it was not possible for the petitioner or for any person to plan the logistics and find a temporary home and shift a whole house hold from one place to another in view of the process of shifting being a threat to life itself involving man power and transportation which increases the chances of getting infected with Covid-19 even if all precautions as advised by the Government are taken. The petitioner has thus submitted that he has not been able to finish the construction as planned in Lucknow and has also not been in a position to search for a rental accommodation in Delhi /Ghaziabad / Noida when the pandemic is at its peak level with no signs of dilution and most of the landlords are not taking any new tenants and are not even inclined to show the house to prospective tenants in view of the pandemic.
58. Taking thus the entire scenario of the lockdown which commenced on 25.3.2020, it cannot be overlooked that though the lockdown had de jure eased w.e.f. 18.5.2020 in terms of order No. 40- 3/2020/DMA-I(A) of Government of India which included the aspect of inter-State movement of passenger vehicles and busses with mutual consent of the States and Union Territories without any specific restrictions on constructions prescribed therein, practically de facto the lockdown has eased w.e.f. 1.7.2020 qua inter-State and intra State movement of persons and goods between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
65. As regards the submission that has been made on behalf of the petitioner that the MHA itself has issued an advisory in relation to the senior citizens staying at home during the present pandemic as rightly submitted by the respondent no.1 the advisory does not restrict the movement of the senior citizens.
66. However, as observed elsewhere hereinabove, the lockdown has practically ceased only on 01.07.2020 and it has also been observed hereinabove that there are intermittent lockdowns taking place even now, in as much as, there are lockdowns still in existence in the State of U.P. from Friday 10.00 pm till Monday 5.00 am as being a complete weekend shut down and that there are lockdowns even now in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Nagaland, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Kanjam District of Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Kerala with limited relaxations, taking the totality of the circumstances of the present scenario thus into account, though as observed hereinabove, the petitioner has no legal vested right to continue with the official accommodation beyond the period of time granted by the respondent no.1 in view of the factum that the period of the easing de facto of the lockdown, though the lockdown was eased w.e.f. 18.05.2020 vide order No. 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) dated 17.05.2020 whereby inter-state movement of passenger vehicles and buses with mutual consent of the State(s) and UT(s) involved, was put into operation and virtually brought into effect between Delhi and U.P. w.e.f. 01.07.2020 and the period between 18.05.2020 to 30.06.2020 has apparently been virtually of no avail.