Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice K. Maheswari and Justice M. Satyanarayana Murthy issued certain guidelines that are to be enforced for a month until further notice. One of the most important guidelines issued on March 26, 2020, includes intensified vigilance by the police in order to curb mass gatherings of any sort within the state boundaries of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana resulting which, Police have intensified their control on public order while trying to take the necessary amount of tests and providing special care to children and pregnant women.
Provision for Returnees
The Court further directed the state government to permit healthy individuals carrying a ‘No Objection Certificate’ to enter the State and go to their homes without having to attend the 14 Day Quarantine at state-run facilities. Amidst the mass exodus of migrant workers, the High Court has issued orders to allow migrants to enter the state and observe quarantine in their own homes under ‘surveillance of the doctor and police concerned’.
The Court further ordered than only migrants who are unhealthy or medically unfit can be taken into State-run facilities for quarantine. The High Court had decided to intervene at this time as the Telangana Government had cancelled the No Objection Certificates upon realisation of the mass exodus crisis at the border. Many people had to return to their respective cities from the borders, most of them on foot due to lack of public transport.
The Andhra Pradesh Government had decided to file a review petition due to the fear that the order would lead to a fresh bout of mass exodus. The State government argues their case on the fact that it is easier to keep people in centralized facilities as compared to individual quarantine. It is relatively harder to keep track of thousands of individuals scattered all over the State.
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