BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday slammed the Belagavi City Police Commissioner for his ignorance about the provisions of the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act, and for collecting only fines, while not registering any FIRs for the violation of Covid norms during a political gathering -- which was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa -- in January this year.
A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj said that an affidavit filed by K Thiyagarajan, Police Commissioner, Belagavi, explained the action taken for the violation of Covid norms during the event held on January 17.
However, the affidavit shows that there is complete ignorance of the provisions of the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act, and the Commissioner was completely unaware about the regulations under it. “Perhaps, the Commissioner is not aware of the order passed by the court on April 15, 2021, as the State Government has not complied with the directions issued to implement the Act,” the court said, observing that photographs showed there was no social distancing within the huge congregation.
“The Commissioner has taken the mass gathering of people without masks and social distancing very casually. He was satisfied with the recovery of fines of Rs 20,900 only. Therefore, we direct him to file a fresh affidavit by June 3, explaining why even a single FIR has not been registered,” the court said.