PIL in Gujarat High Court says Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation order banning sale of grocery led to crowding

A notification issued by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on May 6, ordering a quick ban on the sale of items other than milk and medicines, has been challenged in the Gujarat High Court on the grounds that it led to overcrowding at grocery and vegetable shops, which breached the social distancing norms.

A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed by lawyer Harshit Shah against the civic body's order.

Stating that the AMC should have given enough time to people to purchase essential commodities from grocery stores, the PIL sought the court's direction to make the authorities concerned "personally liable" for the "negative impact" caused due to such "spontaneous" decisions.

The PIL has been filed through e-filing mechanism of the high court. The matter is likely to come up for hearing soon.

The AMC had issued the order at 5 pm on May 6, saying that only milk and medicines will be allowed to be sold in the city from that midnight, giving the people only the two-hour window to buy grocery and vegetables from the shops as they were allowed to operate between 7 am and 7 pm as per the central guidelines, the PIL said.

"Due to the shortage of time, a large number of people came out to buy the essential items, which resulted in long queues outside grocery and vegetable shops and the breaching of social distancing norms.

The risk for the spread of coronavirus in those two hours multiplied, thereby frustrating the very purpose of the AMC's notification," it said.

Advocate Neel Lakhani, who is representing the petitioner, said that the PIL has been filed thorugh the e- filing mechanism of the Gujarat High Court, and shall come up on board in due course.

As per the figures available till Saturday night, Ahmedabad district has reported 5,540 coronavirus positive cases, while the death toll was 363.