The Delhi High Court on Tuesday has asked State of Haryana, why ‘Covid Warriors’ like Doctors, paramedics, Nurses, sanitation workers and Delhi police personnel who have been enlisted as essential and given right of free movement by the Centre, are being treated as ‘super spreaders’ of COVID-19.
The Court has questioned State of Haryana, on the basis of alleged ‘forged’ identity cards and ‘deep fake’ letters and phone calls, full proof e-passes can be issued, when it was informed by the Counsel for Haryana that entry through ‘I-cards’ entry not being allowed by the State Government as they can be forged and e-passes cannot be forged as they bear a code and can be issued within minutes of letters or phone calls being received by Centre or hospitals.
A division bench comprising Justices Manmohan and J SanjeevNarula of Delhi High Court while conducting hearing through video conferencing observed that that the State of Haryana should not have been economical with facts. It is a well-settled proposition of law that a party to a writ petition must be held to a standard of “uberrima fides” or “utmost goodfaith”.
The Court passed its order on the plea filed by Shri O. P. Gupta seeking direction to the Union of India to stop Govt. of Haryana from disobeying the orders & directions dated 15.04.2020 issued by Union of India and the Union of India be directed to deploy Para-Central Forces on these five border points of Haryana to stop the Govt. of Haryana from restricting the movements of essential supply of the vegetable, fruits, milk, medicines along with the restrictions on the movement of Doctors, Nurses, and Court staff who are permanently employed in Delhi.
Through its detailed counter affidavit Haryana Government advanced a number of grounds to justify the order 30th April 2020, whereas, no additional order has been submitted restricting movement of essential services and goods between Delhi and any other district in Haryana.
However, it has been specifically mentioned in the affidavit that they have not issued any direction for blocking/sealing the borders with Delhi or stopping the movement of trucks between Delhi and Haryana as has been alleged in the petition. It is also stated that the State of Haryana has not issued any order to create hurdles or restrictions for residents of Faridabad, Gurugram, Bahadurgarh, and Sonipat who are employed in Delhi.
Counsel appearing for the Haryana Government, Mr. Anil Grover submitted that neither the roads near the border have been dug up nor the Haryana and Delhi border has been sealed by the State of Haryana. He states that the border is being manned by the Haryana security officials and movement of individuals is being allowed on the basis of e-passes issued by the State Government.
Additional Solicitor General Ms. Maninder Acharya has submitted that Union of India has issued a letter on May 11, addressed to all the Chief Secretaries of the States, and sought time to resolve the issues with the Haryana Government.
The court has clarified that no adjournment would be granted on the next date and an endeavor would be made to dispose of the matter on the said date.
-India Legal Bureau