The Karnataka High Court on Friday said it will hear on April 28 a PIL petition, which has sought enforcement of a more stringent law, enacted recently by the Union government to punish those who obstruct members of healthcare services, in Karnataka instead of the ordinance promulgated by State government with comparatively lenient provisions.
A special Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice B.V. Nagarathna, asked the Additional Solicitor-General of India (High Court of Karnataka) M.B. Naragund and State’s Additional Advocate-General Dhyan Chinnappa to seek instructions on the issue of applicability of these two laws in Karnataka.
It was pointed out in the petition, filed by G.R. Mohan, advocate, that Centre’s Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 makes offence against healthcare personnel non-bailable offences but Karnataka’s newly enacted Epidemic Diseases Ordinance, 2020 treats offences as bailable. It was also pointed out that the Central law prescribes imprisonment up to seven years and ₹7 lakh fine when compared to imprisonment of up to only three years and ₹50,000 fine in Karnataka’s law.
Keeping in mind increasing instances of attack or obstruction of health workers on COVID-19 duty across the country, the Centre has amended the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 through the ordinance, and the State government, after the attack in Padarayanapura, introduced the new law through an ordinance.
