Ramp up enforcement of COVID protocols: HC
The Hindu
Cases booked for violations found to be abysmally low
The Telangana High Court on Thursday told the State government that it required to ramp up enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines, observing that the police department was lax in cracking the whip against people not adhering to rules. Referring to statistics of cases booked in a status report filed by DGP M. Mahender Reddy in a batch of PIL petitions on COVID-19, the HC said the “numbers were not impressive” and the “police department needs to ramp up the enforcement”. Citing the 1,16,467 cases booked for not wearing masks from March 24, 2020 to April 1, 2021, a bench of Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy said that many more number of cases could be in Hyderabad city alone. Citing the figures of 2,456 cases booked for not maintaining social distance, the bench felt the number was abysmally low compared to the long queues witnessed before wine shops, pubs and bars. “Wine shops and bars may be sources of revenue for the government, but they are sources of infection as well,” the bench remarked. Stringent actions like suspension of licences should be initiated instead of merely booking cases in case of violation of COVID-19 norms, the bench observed.Sumit Nagal attained the 77th place in ATP rankings. As per the established criteria, the top 56 players, both in men’s and women’s rankings, will attain automatic qualification for the Olympics but no more than four per country can make the cut for the Games, a rule which allows lower ranked players to sneak into the draw.
Justice G. Jayachandran of the Madras High Court has said that Justice G.R. Swaminathan has exhibited bias against the State police by “showing interest in passing orders hastily without consulting the Bench partner (Justice P.B. Balaji)“ in a habeas corpus petition filed against the preventive detention of YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar alias A. Shankar under the Goondas Act.