Panaji: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Tuesday dismissed an application filed by the Goa government seeking a complete waiver of the entry restriction of the mandatory COVID negative certificate, imposed by the High Court for travellers in its May 6 order.

The High Court has, however, granted the state government the liberty to file a fresh application in this regard at a later stage as and when the time and need arises.

The High Court had directed the state government to make COVID negative certificate, issued 72 hours prior to travel, mandatory for those coming to Goa from other states, from May 10. The High Court had thus made it compulsory for everyone entering the state to carry the COVID negative certificate, issued 72 hours prior to entering Goa. The restriction was, however, not applicable to those bringing in essential commodities into the state.

During an earlier hearing, the High Court had observed, “There is sufficient medical literature about the virulent nature of the new strain and how the same is spreading. The state government of its own should have imposed these minimum restrictions in the public interest. As observed earlier, the state could have and still can come out with a suitable protocol to mitigate the issue of supplies of essential goods and services. Such minimum restrictions which several states have also adopted are called if the epidemic is to be contained.”

“Therefore, by way of an interim order, we direct the state administration to ensure that no persons are permitted entry into the state unless they possess a negativity certificate obtained within 72 hours from the time they seek entry into the state. This will not prevent the state government from formulating a protocol to deal with the issues of essential supplies and the procedure for entry of the persons involved in essential supplies. This protocol should however provide necessary safeguards to ensure that such persons are not COVID positive at the time of entry into the state,” the High Court had said.