Kerala High Court Declines To Meddle With Karnataka Government Travel Bans On Kerala Residents

On Tuesday, the Kerala High Court rejected two petitions contesting the Karnataka government's decision to limit admission to persons with a negative RT-PCR finding only at the Kasaragod and Mangalore borders, stating the neighbouring state was well within its rights to impose such orders.

The high court stated that there had been no road blockade between Kerala and Karnataka, and that the restrictions, such as a negative RT-PCR certificate, were enforced inside that state due to the unusual outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Kerala.

According to the instructions established by the national government, states are granted the authority and obligation to implement reasonable limits in order to battle the disease in any particular situation. However, under the regulations of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the state of Karnataka was well within of its powers to issue press releases, orders, or guidelines in accordance with various recommendations issued by the central government.

Meanwhile,a bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly said, dismissing the two PILs, one by A K M Ashraf, an IUML MLA from Manjeshwar, and the other by Jayanan. The panel further stated that, in light of the conditions in Kerala and Maharashtra, the Karnataka government has the required authority to issue circulars.

The panel noted in its 100-page decision that whether the limitations established within the State of Karnataka are justified or not is an issue for the jurisdictional High Court to examine and decide. It went on to say that a full understanding of the totality of the circumstances would reveal that no aspect of the reason of action relating to the circulars published by the Karnataka government or its personnel would be brought up in Kerala.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka government had filed an objection to the two petitions, claiming that the complete cause of action emerges inside the state and that the petitioners should challenge the bulletins in the Karnataka High Court.