The Supreme Court on Wednesday acted Suo Motu on Uttar Pradesh's decision to allow the annual Kawad Yatra amid the Covid-19 pandemic, saying it was "a little disturbed" with the news reports.
A bench of Justices R F Nariman and B R Gavai issued notice to the Centre, Uttarakhand, and UP governments, seeking their response. The court put the matter for further consideration on Friday.
Citing a newspaper report, the bench said, "The citizens of India are completely perplexed. They don't know what is going on. All this is going on amid the PM, when asked about a third wave of Covid striking the nation, saying we cannot compromise even one bit."
The news report mentioned Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's statement expressing possible fear of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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"In view of the pandemic and with a new variant detected in the state, we do not want Haridwar to be the
center of the pandemic…People’s lives are our priority. We can’t play with that…….we won’t take any chances,” Dhami was quoted as saying as the state called off Yatra.
The PM, for his part, was on Tuesday addressing Chief Ministers of North Eastern states.
"Given the disparate political voices, all speaking at the same time, it is important that the relevant Secretary, Union of India, respond to the news report," the bench said.
The court noted since this Yatra is to take off from July 25, 2021, it is necessary to fix a short time
period for this case.
The court asked Secretary, Union of India; Principal Secretary to the State of Uttarakhand; and Principal Secretary to the State of Uttar Pradesh to file their affidavits by Friday morning.
The Kawad Yatra is set to be held from July 25 to August 6. The Uttarakhand government has already called it off.
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