The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed Karnataka and its officials to ensure that people facing dire emergencies such as a death in the family, medical treatment etc are permitted to enter the state on the production of necessary documents to establish the respective case, irrespective of the mode of transportation used.
The Division Bench chaired by Justice Shaji P Chaly and Justice Badharudeen issued the order and moved the case to 25 August for further consideration. The court also gave directions to lift the travel ban for regular commuters and students from Kerala. The Court’s decision came after a petition was filed by MLA from Manjeswaram Assembly Constituency in Kerala, AKM Ashraf, who sought directions from the Central Government for relaxing the requirement of negative RT-PCR reports for people travelling on a daily basis. His petition also sought for opening the borders of Karnataka with Kerala. The petitioner submitted that Karnataka has created a blockade on the borders of Kasargod and Mangalore, which has meant that people from Kerala are unable to enter the state even during emergencies. All passengers crossing its border need to possess a negative RT-PCR certificate taken within 72 hours. Even those who had taken two doses of the vaccine had to show the negative test result. The action of the Karnataka government in preventing Keralites from entering the state was totally illegal and violative of fundamental rights guaranteed to the citizens under the Constitution of India.
