SC says it won’t interfere with Karnataka order on RT-PCR

‘No curbs on movement of citizens from Kerala’

The Supreme Court on Friday made it clear that insistence by a State Government on negative RT-PCR results, for public health reasons, from people travelling in from another State cannot be construed as a “restriction of movement of citizens”.

The Constitution upholds a citizen’s fundamental right to move freely across the length and breadth of India.

However, a Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao did not agree with A.K.M. Ashraf, a legislator from Kerala, who faulted Karnataka’s rule that people entering it from his constituency of Manjeshwaram at Kasargod district in Kerala should have a negative RT-PCR certificate taken within 72 hours of their trip. The lawmaker called it a violation of their right to free movement.