Enforce norms to avoid crowding in markets: Delhi HC

The court said that it does not want to see penalties being collected from people for violating Covid-19 norms. Instead, it wants the authorities to manage the crowd properly

The Delhi high court on Monday said that it expects the authorities to enforce their guidelines and standard operating procedures to avoid overcrowding in the marketplaces in wake of the festive season.

The bench also noted that in the status reports filed with the court, the authorities mentioned the steps taken by them on Covid-appropriate behaviour and how to control the crowd at marketplaces as well as how to engage volunteers for implementation of guidelines and sanitisation of public utilities. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A bench comprising chief justice DN Patel and justice Jyoti Singh, while hearing a plea it initiated on the overcrowding and flouting of Covid-19 norms in marketplaces, said that it does not want to see penalties being collected from people for violating Covid-19 norms. Instead, it wants the authorities to manage the crowd properly.

“We expect from the respondents (Centre, Delhi government and Delhi Police) that these guidelines, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Covid-appropriate behaviour, and controlling of the crowd at market places are executed by them scrupulously in this festive season.”

“All the steps mentioned by the authorities in their respective status reports must be taken and a further status report must be filed by them before the next date of hearing on November 30,” the court said, adding that strict compliance is required.

Appearing for the Delhi government, its counsel said that they issued appropriate guidelines timely and also shut down markets where protocols were not being followed properly. To this, the court said the authorities should ensure that these guidelines are strictly complied with.

The Centre, represented by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma, also said that they filed a status report on the directions to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.

The high court, in June, had initiated proceedings on its own after taking note of certain photographs sent to one of its judges on WhatsApp by an AIIMS doctor showing scant regard for Covid-19 protocols by street vendors in markets.

The court had observed that such breaches would only hasten the third wave of the pandemic, “which cannot be permitted at all”, adding that if this behaviour of flouting Covid-19 norms continues, “we will be in great trouble”.