Hike no-mask fine to Rs 1,000, HC tells govt

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court on Friday told the state government to increase the fine for not wearing masks to Rs 1,000. The court said the government must become strict in ensuring that people take Covid precautions seriously. The bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice J B Pardiwala said that the government must take harsh steps even at the cost of displeasing people. One of the steps was to implement the mask rule by hiking the fine, they said. Commenting on the necessity of masks, Justice Pardiwala said, “People should be made to realize the seriousness of the situation.” He went on to say: “If one wants to die, he may die but he must not be allowed to put others at risk.”
The judges observed that since Unlock 1.0, people have started taking things for granted. Or the negligence could be due to the lack of awareness or illiteracy, they said. The judges observed, “We need to focus on core issues…Now, we need to stop the inflow of people from other cities and areas where the transmission of Covid-19 is on the rise.” They went on to say: “The administration needs to take care that not a single person with slight Covid symptom enters…the city. We need to evolve a better mechanism.”
The advocate general told the court that the government does not have any mechanism to stop people from coming to the city. “You have to be strict,” the judges said. “On the one hand there is so much of hard work and on the other it does not yield any result because of laxity.” They further said: “Even at the cost of displeasing people, the government will have to do it.”
The Ahmedabad Medical Association’s advocate Mitul Shelat pointed out that 19 districts do not have laboratories for Covid testing. The government told the HC that it has a system to test people in areas where there is no laboratory. A person does not have to travel to the laboratory. Samples may be collected and sent for testing and the result is conveyed to the person.
Meanwhile, a PIL sought the declaration of ‘the correct Covid figures’: the number of cases and deaths. Senior counsel Anshin Desai said that news reports claim the government has fudged data and demanded a forensic audit.