Interstate movement: Supreme Court asks NCR states to hold meeting to consider common policy

NEW DELHI:   Explore the possibility of one policy or one portal for movement within the Delhi- NCR amid the ongoing nationwide lockdown. This was the Supreme Court’s message to the Centre and the governments of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana as lakhs of commuters are facing inconvenience due to sealing of interstate borders.

“The common man should not suffer,” said a SC bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishal Kaul and M R Shah. The top court gave one-week time to the Centre to resolve the issue. During the hearing on Thursday, the Centre told the bench that it is the states that would have to decide on interstate movement.

The top court then asked the Centre to convene a meeting with the states, and find a common programme and portal for interstate movement within the NCR so that confusion and difficulty to common man gets over. The order came while hearing a plea filed by Rohit Bhalla, a Gurugram resident, who petitioned that the Delhi-NCR be considered as a single region and Delhi’s borders with Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Sonipat be opened.

Bhalla termed the move to seal borders as unconstitutional, adding that the right to travel under Article 19. He stressed that it is unconstitutional for UP and Haryana to restrict movement for permissible activities in areas falling within the NCR through blanket orders of sealing borders.

Haryana hints at willingness to find out solution
Pitching for a joint strategy with Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for inter-state movement of people, Haryana Deputy CM Dushyant Singh Chautala said all three states should come together in the Covid fight