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Madras High Court seeks action against Ministers, MLAs for violating pandemic norms
The Madras High Court on Friday ordered notice to State government on a plea that sought action against Ministers and AIADMK MLAs for failing to adhere to the COVID-19 standard operating procedures, including wearing masks and maintaining minimum physical distance, during the meeting convened to elect the CM candidate for the ensuing Assembly elections.
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Chennai
Perusing the photographs submitted by the petitioner, a division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice R Hemalatha observed that though a few of them seem to be wearing masks, social distancing seems to have been disregarded completely.
However, with the government advocate seeking time to provide a reply, the bench directed the State Health Secretary, Corporation Commissioner and health officer, and State Disaster Management Authority Chairman to file their responses by January 6.
Petitioner Thondan Subramanian, an advocate, had submitted that though various relaxations were announced, the government had insisted that wearing masks and social distancing were mandatory and imposed fines for those violating these norms.
However, on October 7, the AIADMK convened a meeting to decide on the chief ministerial candidate for the ensuing election. Ahead of the meeting, the Ministers and MLAs had gone to the memorial of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa in Marina beach to pay homage, during which they failed to adhere to social distancing norms.
It was unfortunate that the lawmakers who were meant to set an example for the public failed to abide by any of the stipulated norms in view of COVID-19, the petitioner said, seeking for a direction to initiate stringent action against them for violating the norms.
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