Not appropriate to rule on re-opening of religious places amid COVID-19 pandemic: Orissa HC says it is up to State to decide

The Orissa High Court yesterday disposed of two petitions that sought the reopening of places of worship outside containment zones in Orissa (Trilochan Rath v. Government of India; Jayant Kumar Bal v. State of Odisha). .The State Government had halted the reopening of places of worship throughout the State in view of the COVID-19 situation. .The Orissa High Court through Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Dr BR Sarangi accepted the State’s submissions defending its decision while noting with concern the rise in the number of COVID-19 infections in the State. .The Court went on to rule that it would not be appropriate for the Court to pass a general order on this issue..“... allowing entry of people in religious places of worship in different parts of the State, is essentially a matter for the State Government to decide, on the basis of assessment of the day to day situation prevalent from place to place”Orissa High Court.The first of the pleas had sought the reopening of temples in the State for darshan and puja, including the Jagannath Puri Temple. The second plea had urged the Court to make a similar declaration for all places of worship, across religions..The petitioners argued that the Central Government’s Unlock Guidelines-1 permitted the reopening of religious places/places of worship from June 8 onwards. They added that the third set of Unlock Guidelines (Unlock – 3) prohibited only those activities specified therein, permitting all other activities outside of designated containment zones..They relied on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Nishikant Dubey v. Union of India wherein it was stated that there could not be a “complete closure of places of worship.”.The Advocate General argued that the first Unlock Guidelines left it to the State Government to decide upon an appropriate date for the restart of large gatherings and congregations after assessing the situation, even if it permitted the re-opening of places of worship..While the Centre cautioned against the dilution of its Guidelines issued under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, additional restrictions for the welfare of the people could be imposed, the Advocate General pointed out..Further, even the Unlock-3 Guidelines and the Supreme Court judgment quoted by the petitioner left the final decision of reopening a place/ restarting activities to the State Government, depending on its assessment of the situation..As such, the State submitted that the decision to close all places of worship was taken by the State Government on an assessment of the COVID-19 situation in Orissa. In this regard, the Advocate General added that there has been a spike COVID-19 cases in different parts of the State in the past few weeks..The Court agreed that the Centre had permitted State Governments to assess the situation and prohibit activities outside containment zones..As such, the Bench held that it would not be appropriate if the Court were to pass an order on the entry of the public into places of worship. Therefore, the Court confined to directing the State Government to consider and decide on the grievances of the petitioners..A decision on reopening should be made as appropriate by the State, “depending on the situation prevalent, from place to place and time to time, with regard to the entry of public in different places of worship in the State of Odisha, by adhering to the norms of social distancing and use of masks and sanitizer etc.”, the Court said. . Read the Orissa High Court Order here:.Recently, the Kerala High Court had upheld the Kerala Government's decision to allow the restricted reopening of places of worship in the State. ."Religious gatherings" prohibited in COVID-19 Guidelines not the same as permitted limited gatherings at "places of worship": Kerala HC