Telangana HC orders state to impose restrictions on gatherings amid Omicron scare

Hyderabad: Deeply concerned over the steady spread of the highly-infectious Omicron variant of the Coronavirus, Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the state government to issue restrictions on gatherings during Christmas, New Year and Sankranti. The court also specified that the orders should be issued within three days.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice N. Tukaramji, was dealing with a batch of PILs and writ petitions filed in 2020 on Covid-19 management.

The court directed the government to place screening facilities at entry points and airports so that people affected by the Omicron variant can be restrained from entering the state. The bench said that Delhi and Maharashtra governments had issued orders restricting public gatherings during the ensuing festivals.

The court told the government to report compliance of the directives issued by the Union government to the court by January 4.

The Union health ministry had addressed letters to the Chief Secretaries of all the states directing them to take all steps to curb the spread of the new variant.

Senior counsel L. Ravichander, appearing for one of the petitioners, sought a direction to the state government on mandating vaccination as the state was the third-worst affected with the Omicron variant.

On submissions by other counsels, the bench observed "Government of India has a dedicated team working on this issue and they are closely monitoring everything by issuing directions to all the state hovernments and all those directions will be complied with by the Telangana government."

Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma assured that the High Court would monitor the implementation of the directives that have been issued by the Centre. The next hearing has been adjourned to January 4.