Punjab and Haryana High Court halts legal proceedings in thousands of Covid-19 violation cases across Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, February 9

Recognising the colossal nature of the Covid-19 crisis, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday stayed further legal proceedings in cases registered for violation of the pandemic norms during the tumultuous period in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

The Bench also made it clear that the stay would operate in cases registered under the Epidemic Diseases Act, the Disaster Management Act, and Section 188 and two other provisions of the IPC.

The direction came as the Bench contemplated the use of its authority under Article 226 of the Constitution to quash the proceedings. The order will remain in force at least till March 14, the next date of hearing.

As the suo motu or court on its own motion case came up for resumed hearing, the Bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and Justice Kirti Singh observed that Covid-19 pandemic was an enormous challenge to humanity. Nationwide lockdown was imposed to curtail the spread of the virus and orders were issued by the authorities under Section 188 of the IPC, Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act and Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act.

The Bench said the people were, by and large, obeying the orders. But there could have been emergent situations compelling them to venture out of their homes in violation of the orders, including the need for food and medicine.

“While considering the issue of invoking our power under Article 226 of the Constitution to quash these proceedings, we deem it appropriate as an interim measure to direct that the further proceedings in the cases registered under Sections 188, 269, 270 of the IPC, read with Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act and Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, without invoking other provisions of the IPC or other penal enactments would remain stayed till the next date of hearing,” the Bench observed.

Before parting with the orders, the Bench added that the court on a previous date of hearing had expressed serious apprehension about the clogging of the judicial system by a large number of such cases before considering action “across the board to benefit even those accused whose litigation is not being monitored by this Court in the writ petition”.

Referring to the status reports, the Bench observed that 5,792 cases are currently pending trial or under investigation in Punjab under these provisions. Around 12,000 cases of a similar nature had already been concluded.

In Haryana, 4,494 such cases were pending, while a substantial number of these cases had already been disposed of. Around 114 cases were at present awaiting trial or investigation, while 974 cases of a similar nature had been disposed of.