Won't Close Check-Posts At Kerala Border, Karnataka Govt Tells High Court

Clause 3 of the directive states :  "In consideration of the situation, every gram panchayat,/urban local bodies/municipality/town municipality, shall identify the points of the arrival in their respective jurisdiction to facilitate the public/student opening of the checkpost which are more likely to be used and closing of check post which are rarely used such decision must be taken and directions issued for arrivals from Kerala/Maharashtra state by Panchayat Task force committee which is already in existence."

On the previous hearing the court had taken exception to the directives, purportedly issued to control the surge of COVID-19 cases:

"The modified order passed by the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada on March 15, is misconceived and issued in complete non-application of mind. This gives arbitrary power to local authorities to close any check post and open any check post anywhere. This authorizes them to close the check post. It is worse then the earlier order, at least earlier there was clarity on which check posts were open", CJ Oka had orally remarked.

Today, Advocate K Ravishankar appearing for the petitioner B Subbaya Rai, who challenges the border restrictions, brought to the notice of the court of the latest guidelines issued by the Union Government dated March 23, by which there is no restriction imposed on inter-and intra-state travel.

Advocate M N Kumar appearing for the central government affirmed the same by saying "No border restrictions has been imposed in the latest guidelines."

Following this, the court orally said "There is a concept of Federalism, you cannot simply close borders."

The bench even suggested to the state government to make a statement before the court that all the checkpost across the Kerala-Karnataka border are open and checking of RT-PCR reports of persons entering from Kerala can be done.

The court accordingly adjourned the matter for further hearing on April 1.

The Deputy Commissioner passed the modified order after the Court rapped the State Government for imposing travel restrictions in violation of the Central Government's 'unlock' guidelines which prohibit curbs on inter-state travel.

Terming the modified order "worse than the previous order", the bench had said on the previous hearing :

"Look at the consequences, at least in the original order four checkpoints were open. By virtue of clause 3, at the 11th hour someone will be told the route is closed, because for the last three days no person has used it so we closed it, so the person will have to take a different route. Will it not directly affect those people who are entering Kerala from Karnataka and coming back?".

The Court also commented that the border restrictions did not make any sense as there was no curbs on air travel from the neighbouring state.

"Flights from Kerala operate to Karnataka without restrictions. So, if you have money you can enter the state of Karnataka without restrictions but if you can't afford to buy an air ticket you will be subjected to all these restrictions. How this can be tolerated?", the bench had asked the government's counsel.