REGISTRAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Court leads to take cognizance of certain news items published in the newspapers. These news items are published in the newspaper 'Lokmat' in the supplement titled as 'Shahar Vishesh' at page 4 under the caption "[xxx xxxx xxx]". The another news item published in the supplement 'Today' in newspaper, namely, 'Sakal' under the caption "[xxx xxxx xxx]". Then there is another news item published in newspaper, namely 'The Times of India' under the caption "Some residents resist staff on Covid-19 screening duty". One more news item is there in newspaper 'Sakal' under the caption "[xxx xxxx xxx]". This news item refers to a group of 50-60 migrants, who are taking a shelter in an open ground in front of Regional Transport Office.

(2.) It is the common knowledge that in the Covid-19 pandemic, all the States of India are into the swing of action. It may not be necessary to refer to the various steps initiated by the Central Government with the assistance of the States. I am guided by the orders of the Honourable the Apex Court dated 31 st March, 2020 in Writ Petition(s) (Civil) No.468 of 2020, order of High Court of Allahabad dated 8th March, 2020 in Public Interest Litigation No.533 of 2020 and order of this Court at Nagpur Bench on 23 rd March, 2020 passed in Writ Petition No.3427 of 2000 and Public Interest Litigation No.10 of 2020.

(3.) The news items referred to above published in newspapers 'Lokmat', 'Sakal' and 'The Times of India' refer to detaining of certain labours, who were travelling from Pune and Ahmednagar to the State of Madhya Pradesh. This migration was on the backdrop of the lockdown declared in the country. The news items state that nearly 28 labours took a journey of approximately 200 kms on foot or by whatever means available for transport and they were detained. They were apprehended by the police machinaries. The news item then states that the labours were provided shelters in the Zilla Parishad School. The news items then refers to certain arrangements of the food for these labours through voluntary organization. The news item also refers to the service being provided through the disasters management team set up at taluka level. The news item also refers to the difficulty being faced by the volunteers due to lack of facilities and communication.