Volunteers, parties can distribute relief but conditions apply

Hearing a plea moved by the DMK challenging the restrictions imposed on the distribution of relief materials to those affected by the lockdown via video conferencing, a special division bench comprising Justice R Subbaiah and Justice R Pongiappan insisted that apart from the rules imposed by the government, not more than three persons should be involved in the distribution of the relief materials and permission for the same should be obtained 48 hours in advance.

The bench insisted on strict adherence to the stipulations based on State Advocate General (A-G) Vijay Narayan’s submission that the restrictions and conditions have been drawn with the crux of social distancing in mind to prevent the virus from spreading.

He told the court that the government had not banned volunteers from distributing relief materials and all it wanted from them was to work in tandem with designated government officials to ensure that physical distancing and other protocols were followed. Senior Counsel P Wilson, appearing for the DMK, argued that the restrictions are inhuman.

He said that starvation deaths have begun in the State and the government should be magnanimous to accept all contributions. He also submitted that obtaining permission from officials would just lead to bureaucratic red-tapism and that DMK had no objection in informing local police stations before carrying out the distribution work.

The bench, during the hearing, had earlier asked the DMK to spell out its plan to avoid gathering of any crowd during relief distribution.