Act against those who hide travel history: HC

J&K court calls for strict measures

25/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,SRINAGAR

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court (HC) on Tuesday directed the authorities of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to enforce their orders regarding disclosure on travel history in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hearing a public interest litigation appeal through video conferencing from Srinagar, Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Sindhu Sharma in an order said that judicial notice can be taken of several cases being reported in the electronic and the print media with regard to persons who were concealing their foreign travel history, to escape the mandatory quarantine. “Some of such persons have been found to be infected and huge public resources have been expended on tracking, not only these persons, but their several contacts during the period up to their detection,” the order read.

The High Court has also directed BSNL to ensure that every effort is made to operationalise the video-conferencing facilities in all the courts within the two Union Territories at the earliest.

The court directed the Secretary of Public Health Engineering to look into the water supply roster and ensure equitable distribution to all residents.