In view of surging COVID cases, the Allahabad High Court has ordered the UP government to impose lockdown in 5 cities Allahabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, and Gorakhpur – of Uttar Pradesh.
Now, the apex court stayed the Allahabad High Court’s decision for two weeks. The top court passed the order in response to the UP government’s plea challenging the Allahabad High Court’s order to impose lockdown in 5 cities.
The state government maintained that ”such kinds of decisions are not in the domain of the High Court.”
The order passed by a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde. Appearing on behalf of Yogi Adityanath’s government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, “the state is already taking steps to contain the spread of COVID-19 but a complete lockdown would create immense administrative difficulties.”
“Complete COVID-19 lockdown was imposed for a week in many cities in Uttar Pradesh. Considering the urgency, in the matter, please consider it for hearing today,” Solicitor General said.
Uttar Pradesh has reported more than 18,021 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.
