The Bombay High Court on Monday granted the Maharashtra government two days to issue new guidelines on allowing the entry of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people in local trains, offices and malls in Mumbai, reported The Indian Express.
During the previous hearing on February 22, the court had said that allowing only fully vaccinated people in Mumbai’s local trains was illegal and violated the fundamental rights.
The state had responded to the court saying that it had withdrawn three orders passed last year – on July 15, August 10 and August 11 – restricting local train travel in Mumbai to those who are fully vaccinated.
The Maharashtra government’s counsel had also said that a state executive committee meeting would be held on February 25 to review the orders and issue fresh guidelines.
The High Court was hearing a batch of petitions, which argued that the prohibitions violated the fundamental right to freely move across the country as guaranteed by Article 19(1)(d) of the Constitution.
The state government’s lawyer on Monday said that the meeting had been held and that new guidelines were prepared but required the signature of chief secretary Debashish Chakrabarty.
According to government pleader Priyabhushan P Kakade, marathon meetings are being held to rescue students from Maharashtra stranded in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion there.
“This document will be signed any minute. Please give us two days,” The Indian Express report quoted Kakade as saying.
The High Court has posted the matter for March 2.
It observed that Chakrabarty was set to retire on Monday and that this should not lead to further delay.
Kakade assured the court that Chakrabarty would sign the fresh guidelines on Monday.
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