Supreme Court stays Allahabad High Court order on lockdown in five UP cities

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered an interim stay on the Allahabad High Court’s Monday order, which asked the Uttar Pradesh government to impose a lockdown in five key cities of the state — Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Prayagraj, and Gorakhpur — to check the spread of covid.

The High Court had suggested that a near lockdown for at least two weeks was a must to break the chain of transmission of the pandemic. The state government resisted this on the ground that it would affect the “livelihood of the poor.”

The state government immediately rushed to the top court against the order. The matter was mentioned before a three-judge bench led by CJI S.A. Bobde, which immediately stayed the order.


Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta argued that the state government has issued several directions to contain the spread of Covid and was taking adequate steps on its own. The directions issued by the HC were too rigorous, he said. The bench also issued notices to the parties in the case and imposed an interim stay on the HC order.

The top court, however, asked the state government to give an account within a week to the High Court of the steps it has taken so far and proposes to take in the immediate future to check the current spread of covid.