Synopsis: Community service would be expected to be conducted at the local authorities’ operated COVID care centre, with violators required to provide ‘non-medical’ services, the Court stressed.
On Wednesday, the Gujarat High Court urged the state government to develop a policy to enforce community service as a punishment, on anyone found to violate safety standards for COVID-19 by failing to wear face masks in public places.
The direction was given by the division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice JB Pardiwala.
The state government has been charged with ensuring that the community service mandate is enforced by a framework framed by the relevant statutes.
Community service would be expected to be conducted at a local authorities-operated COVID care centre, with violators required to provide ‘non-medical’ services, the Court emphasized.
A violator is expected to devote 4-6 hours a day to community service for a duration ranging from 5-15 days.
The said mandate would function alongside the fines currently imposed for violation of the safety protocol of COVID-19 and for failure to wear face masks in public spaces, the Bench has stressed.
The Court also directed the State, without prejudice, to enforce this Directive. The Bench stated that community programmes had great advantages, stressing that community service is not a rigid penalty.
The state government/non-governmental organisations can receive additional services under a system of implementing community service and the offender must correct his wrongs, the Order states. This was particularly important in the midst of the pandemic, which is still spreading, especially after the festival season.
The Bench claimed that the violator of the safety standard puts the community at risk and therefore, in compliance with the definition and the principle of community service, the violator must extend services to the community at risk.
The Bench asked the state government why it was unable to create a framework for the enforcement of community service. The Court was forced to issue such orders, in the light of the unwillingness of the state.
The Bench was hearing a petition filed by Advocate Vishal Awtani, who sought the intervention of the Court to order the State to raise fines on persons for not wearing a face cover (mask).
Recently, after noting that imposing fines has not proven to be a sufficient deterrent against violations of safety norms, the Gujarat High Court suggested the community service penalty.
Finding merit in the petitioner’s submissions, the Bench found that if taken, such measures would certainly ensure greater enforcement of the compulsory wearing of the mask, which would certainly enable us to contain the spread of COVID-19.
In addition, the petitioner urged that the amount levied as a fine for violations of face mask standards be increased to Rs. 2,000 in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot, and Rs. 1,000 for the rest of Gujarat.
The Bench was alarmed to note a newspaper report from Friday, that out of 100 people fined for not wearing a face cover (mask), 47 tested positive for COVID-19, although they showed no symptoms.
After Advocate General Kamal Trivedi and Government Pleader Manisha Shah agreed that the suggestion could succeed, they argued that with the government’s stance on the subject, they would revert to the Court.