NE LEGAL BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, MAY 10
Stating that a notification issued by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on May 6, ordering a quick ban on the sale of items other than milk and medicines, has led to overcrowding at grocery and vegetable shops, which breached the social distancing norms, a PIL has been filed in the Gujarat High Court challenging it.
A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed by lawyer Harshit Shah against the civic body’s order.
Stating that the AMC should have given enough time to people to purchase essential commodities from grocery stores, the PIL sought the court’s direction to make the authorities concerned “personally liable” for the “negative impact” caused due to such “spontaneous” decisions.
Shah, an Ahmedabad resident, has filed the petition against the state government and Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Mukesh Kumar for issuing the order, prohibiting vegetable shops and grocery shops to operate in the city from 7 p.m. of May 6.
Shah said the sudden order caused huge mental and physical harassment to Ahmedabad residents and was illegal, arbitrary, and unreasonable and in violation of the Article 21 of the Constitution.
The PIL has been filed through e-filing mechanism of the high court. The matter is likely to come up for hearing soon.
The AMC had issued the order at 5 pm on May 6, saying that only milk and medicines will be allowed to be sold in the city from that midnight, giving the people only the two-hour window to buy grocery and vegetables from the shops as they were allowed to operate between 7 am and 7 pm as per the central guidelines, the PIL said.
“Due to the shortage of time, a large number of people came out to buy the essential items, which resulted in long queues outside grocery and vegetable shops and the breaching of social distancing norms. The risk for the spread of coronavirus in those two hours multiplied, thereby frustrating the very purpose of the AMC’s notification,” it said.
The petitioner also cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to the people to not start stocking and hoarding essential commodities and the state governments will make the available adequate stock of essentials. The people had believed in the Prime Minister and didn’t stock, he added.
Advocate Neel Lakhani, who is representing the petitioner, said that the PIL has been filed through the e- filing mechanism of the Gujarat High Court, and shall come up on board in due course.
