SC Stay On HC order: Restrictions On Inter-State Movement of People to Have Cascading Effect, Says SG

Bhubaneswar: A division bench of the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Orissa High Court order to prevent coronapositive Odia migrants from entering Odisha following a hearing made by the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

Mehta contended before the bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and B R Gavai that people should be allowed to move from their migrant State to the home State as it has been more than 40 days since the lockdown has been imposed.

The SG said that the States should make arrangement for transport of workers, students and others as the latter were facing problems due to the lockdown.

He further said that the States can make arrangements if they wish to check the people but they cannot completely ban their entry. The orders restricting the movement would have a cascading effect on their lives, he added.

The Odisha Government had yesterday stopped three trains which were supposed to bring migrant Odia labourers from Surat to Odisha today on the direction of the Orissa High Court.

Hearing a PIL, the court had directed that no person can be brought to the State without confirming the test result. It had also stated that only those found negative in the test should be allowed to come.

Thousands of Odia labourers in Surat had registered with the Government site to return home and accordingly, the Odisha Government had made the arrangement for their train journey. Three trains were scheduled to leave Gujarat’s textile town today.