The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the State government to file a counter affidavit in a public interest litigation petition that challenged the government’s decision to continue with the e-pass system for inter-State and inter-District travel.
A Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and P. Rajamanickam ordered notice to the State government and sought a response in the petition filed by P. Gopalakrishnan, Kanniyakumari coordinator of the Democratic Corruption Liberation Front.
The petitioner said that the Central government had announced phased reopening ‘Unlock 3.0’ by allowing certain services to resume that had come to a standstill in view of the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
Under ‘Unlock 3.0’, the National Disaster Management Authority had ensured inter-State and intra-State travel without any permit and this was binding on the State government and no contrary orders can be issued by the State.
The restriction of movement is unreasonable and when the National level authority has issued guidelines, the same must be followed by the State authorities, he said and challenged the operation of the government order.
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