Kerala High Court Extends Interim Orders Yet Again Till 26th July Amid Ongoing Pandemic

A full bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday further extended the life of interim orders up to 26th July 2021. Chief Justice S Manikumar, Justice C.T Ravikumar, and Justice Shaji P Chaly considered that it was pertinent to extend these orders amidst the continuing lockdown restrictions in the State. 

Advocate General Gopalakrishna Kurup produced before the Court government orders dated 29th June and 6th July respectively to submit that the State had issued additional guidelines and had re-categorized local self-government institutions upon examining the average weekly test positivity rates in the State. 

According to the said government orders, the lockdown restrictions were relaxed only in areas where the TPR was lower, and they continued to be imposed strictly in areas where the TPR was observed to be high.  Areas were categorized into A, B, C, and D based on their TPR and restrictions continued in different densities among these regions. 

Considering that lockdown still continues in the State subject to re-categorization of Local Self Government Institutions and additional guidelines, interim orders were extended once again. 

The Court had earlier extended the life of these interim orders till June 29th on an earlier occasion. Before this, they were extended till June 15th by the Court. The State has been witnessing a surge in Covid positive cases and has been functioning with lockdown restrictions since May 2021.

Case Title: Suo Motu v. State of Kerala

Click Here To Read/Download The Order