No Gujarat high court relief in mask fine amount

AHMEDABAD: In its bid to reduce the compulsory mask fine from Rs 1,000 to Rs 500, the state government on Friday did not get any relief from the Gujarat high court. The court was reluctant to grant any such relaxation and it said that let at least 50% of the population should get vaccinated first.
During the hearing of the suo motu PIL on Covid-19, advocate general Kamal Trivedi requested the court to permit the government to reduce the fine amount citing a feeling that is persisting among people at large. He submitted, “The fine amount was increased at the behest of the high court, when people were not observing the rule. But with the passage of time, great discipline has been inculcated.”
The bench of Justice Bela Trivedi and Justice Bhargav Karia reminded the advocate general that the third wave is expected and unless there is a deterrence, people would not follow the rule of wearing masks in public places. The judges questioned as who has objection to this.
The government counsel replied that people from lower strata and in rural pockets are feeling the pinch of high amount of fine and there is a demand for this. To this, Justice Trivedi quickly said, “Let them wear masks…There should be some deterrence of fine. People will remain in discipline. Let 50% of the population get vaccinated. This is the only weapon. You (the government) may succumb to popular demand, the court cannot.”
Justice Karia said that in spite of the directions to increase the penalty, the second wave of Covid-19 occurred. He told the advocate general that the fine amount for not wearing mask outside India ranges between Rs 40,000 and Rs 45,000. “We may relax the rule after substantial number of people are vaccinated,” he said.
Senior advocate Percy Kavina, who represents the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association, supported the government’s demand and submitted that a modest fine would have the deterrent effect and insisted that some relaxation is required. On his submission that the implementation of the rule leads to more complications, the judges said that there are CCTV camera installed at most of the places and it is easy to ascertain whether the cops are right in imposing penalty on defaulters. The judges also commented that the cops are not able to control the crowd and implement social distancing norms.
The high court asked the government to withdraw its application with permission to approach the court on this issue at an appropriate time.