High court extends stay order on Chardham Yatra

The High Court Nainital has extended the order of ban imposed earlier on Chardham Yatra including Badrinath, Kedarnath in Uttarakhand till August 18. The court has said that this stay will continue till an order is issued by the Supreme Court in this regard. The hearing was held in the division bench of Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma. During the hearing in the case on Wednesday, advocate Shiv Bhatt told the court that the SLP has been presented in the Supreme Court on behalf of the government regarding the Chardham Yatra.

There is no hearing in the Supreme Court yet. The advocate said that therefore the order of ban on Chardham Yatra should be carried forward. This was also agreed to by the government. After the hearing, the court has extended the order of ban on Chardham Yatra. It has been said that until an order is passed by the Supreme Court regarding SLP, this stay will continue. Significantly, the doors of Yamunotri Dham were opened on May 14, Gangotri on May 15, Kedarnath on May 17 and Badrinath on May 18. But, due to corona infection, the government has not allowed the pilgrims to travel.

The court also expressed concern over the crowd at tourist places and violation of Covid rules. The court asked the government to direct the district magistrates to give entry to tourists according to the capacity of the tourist places. Tourists should be allowed to come only after the Covid investigation. In Nainital itself, 75 percent tourists are not following the SOP. The remaining 25 percent are not following social distance. Due to this, 10 Covid positive cases were found in Nainital last week. A female police officer was assaulted by a tourist. The government has not taken any action on it so far. So far, how many people have been booked for breaking the Covid protocol, tell the court by July 18.