The Supreme Court on Friday urged the Karnataka and Kerala governments to amicably resolve their problems in connection with the border blockade that has stopped the free flow of vehicles carrying essential items and patients in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, PTI reported.
Karnataka moved the top court, challenging a Kerala High Court order to open the border to allow passage of patients from Kasargod district seeking medical services in Mangaluru. Karnataka, which imposed the blockade, justified that its border was sealed “in order to combat the spread of the pandemic”. Advocate Prabhuling Navadgi, who appeared for the state, said that the Kerala High Court order passed on April 1 was without any jurisdiction and should be set aside.
“The said direction has been passed despite the earlier observations in the same impugned order that the High Court had no territorial jurisdiction to issue any direction to the state of Karnataka to remove any impediments which are located in the state of Karnataka,” the petition said.
However, Kerala argued that patients from the state cannot be denied access to health care, adding that the blockade has severely affected the supply of essential items, from medicines to food.
A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta urged both the states to not confront each other in the midst of an unprecedented public health emergency. It directed the chief secretaries of Kerala and Karnataka to hold discussions with the Union health secretary for amicable settlement of the matter and also decide on parameters to be maintained in case of health crisis.
The court observed that there cannot be indiscriminate opening of borders in the present scenario. The top court also orally asked the Kerala government to not take any precipitative action based on the High Court order. It sought responses from the Centre and the Kerala government on the petition and posted the matter for hearing next on April 7.
The Karnataka government’s petition stated that Kerala is the “worst affected” state in the country with coronavirus cases. Kasargod, a relatively small district in North Kerala with just 13 lakh people, has the second highest number of Covid-19 cases among all districts of India, with over 100 cases. Its closest urban centre is Mangaluru in Karnataka – which is where many Covid-19 patients would have ended up being treated if not for the closed state border. By blocking off the highway, therefore, Karnataka aims to quarantine itself from the district of Kasargod.
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Now, border conflicts within India – as states create barricades to keep out the coronavirus
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