Supreme Court Takes Suo Motu Cognizance Of UP Govt's Decision To Allow Kanwar Yatra Amid Covid-19

A Bench headed by Justice Rohinton Nariman issued notice to the UP government and sought its response while posting the case for further consideration on Friday, July 16.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of the decision of the Uttar Pradesh government to allow the annual Kanwar Yatra in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.

A Bench headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman issued notice to the Centre and Uttar Pradesh government.

"The citizens of India are completely perplexed. They don't know what is going on. And all this amid the Prime Minister, when asked about a third wave of Covid striking the nation, saying 'we cannot compromise even one bit," said Justice Nariman while issuing notice to UP government according to Bar & Bench.

 The Uttarakhand government on Tuesday decided to cancel the Kanwar Yatra this year as. The announcement was made by newly appointed Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami who had recently expressed his desire to cancel the annual pilgrimage of Lord Shiva’s devotees which was supposed to begin on July 25th.

The cancellation of pilgrimage comes after Indian Medical Association (IMA) had written to Dhami recently asking him to not allow the yatra to go ahead in the interest of the people of the state and the country. The new Uttarakhand CM also urged his Uttar Pradesh counterpart to cancel the yatra. 

However, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has given his approval to conduct Kanwar Yatra. 

Uttar Pradesh additional chief secretary Navneet Sehgal informed last week that the detailed guidelines on the yatra will be issued soon. Officials have been instructed by chief minister Yogi Adityanath to coordinate with neighbouring Bihar and Uttarakhand besides ensuring that Covid guidelines are followed during the yatra.

The fourteen days long Kanwar Yatra begins with the onset of the month of Shravan around July 25 every year and ends in the first week of August. The holy pilgrimage witnesses crores of Kanwariyas from various states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana and Delhi gathering in Haridwar to collect the holy waters of the Ganga.