Gandhinagar, Dec 1 Replying to the Gujarat High Court's suggestion of making the violators of masks do social service in Covid-care centres for eight to ten days, the Gujarat government on Tuesday said that it was unable to do so and asked for a week's time. The Gujarat HC was dissatisfied by the government's reply and said it will take a decision about this on Wednesday.
The bench of chief justice Vikramnath and Justice JB Pardiwala were hearing Suo Moto on Corona and lockdown situation, in which over 50 PILs have been filed. The bench last week had suggested to the Gujarat government that as people did not heed to the fine of Rs 1 thousand, there was a need to make them serve in Covid care centres for eight to ten days on top of the fine, so that they could understand the gravity of the pandemic.
Appearing for the Gujarat government the advocate general, Kamal Trivedi on Tuesday said that regarding the HC's suggestion about making mask violators serve in Covid care centres for 8 to 10 days, the government in its current capacity was unable to do so and asked for another week to decide on the suggestion.
The advocate general also said that "Since last 3 days, the situation regarding coronavirus outbreak is improving. The hospital beds are getting vacant and the numbers of positive cases were also coming down."
However the Gujarat High Court was not satisfied with the answer and said that, "What's that got to do with the mask violations issue. We cannot grant you more time on this. The situation is alarming and needs to be controlled. What will happen after a week if the situation worsens."
The High Court bench then said that it will take a decision on that on Wednesday.
The bench on Friday had expressed that despite various guidelines and laws issued by the government, people continued flouting the rules, regulations and law and there was a need for deterrence to be brought regarding the compliance of Covid-19 guidelines.
Acting on a suggestion by the petitioner, the Gujarat high court had asked the Gujarat government to come up with specific rules for violations of persons not wearing masks. "Despite the fine of Rs. 1000, people have continued flouting the rules. Is the state government mulling of having such violators being sent to the Covid care centres for 8 days to socially serve, so they can really get serious about the outbreak? The violators should have a fear in the minds and hearts regarding the outbreak," observed the bench of the HC on Friday.
The High Court had given the state government a time till Tuesday, by which they were expected to come out with the answer. The state government had assured the court that they will be thinking over it and come back with a reply on Tuesday.
Through the advocate general, the Gujarat government had argued that the implementation of the HC's suggestion was hard as a lot of resources would be utilised, which it didn't have and all the resources were right now utilized in fighting the pandemic.
( With inputs from IANS )
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