The court asked the state government why it did not restrict the number of guests who could attend the wedding.
After former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy were heavily criticised for conducting a wedding during the lockdown, the special division bench of the Karnataka High Court have questioned the Ramanagara Deputy Commissioner as to why officials had not imposed a cap on the number of people who could attend Nikhil’s wedding on April 17. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Abhay Sreenivas Oka and Justice BV Nagarathna, questioned the government while hearing a Public Interest Litigation that demanded action against Kumaraswamy for flouting lockdown and social distancing norms. The court questioned the Karnataka government on how the Deputy Commissioner was allowed to grant blanket permission without imposing limitations on the number of guests who could attend the wedding at Kumaraswamy’s farm house in Ramanagara. According to the permission letter, any representative of HD Kumaraswamy could attend the wedding. The court also asked the state government to submit details about vehicle movement and the number of passes issued. During the video conference of the hearing, the government told the court that it had allowed 80 to 95 people to attend the wedding, The Hindu reported. Responding to submissions made by the state government, the court said, “We are not concerned about the matter of this marriage itself, prima facie, the entire objective of the lockdown is defeated if the state and Union governments allow more than 50 persons to attend a ceremony,” The New Indian Express quoted Chief Justice Abhay Oka. However, the bench also noted that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had only allowed wedding ceremonies to take place on May 1, with not more than 50 people while maintaining social distancing. “If it is the state government’s policy to permit weddings without any restrictions on the number of guests, then other people must also get the same benefit. Many people have cancelled weddings because of the lockdown,” the bench observed. Chief Justice Oka further directed both the Centre and the state government to issue a clarification on whether the Deputy Commissioner has powers to grant permission to hold weddings, regardless of the number of people who attend the function. “As the guidelines issued by the MHA on April 15 do not indicate the number of persons allowed to attend weddings, does it mean any number of persons could have been allowed to attend such functions prior to the May 1 guidelines,” The Hindu report quoted the bench as saying. The Chief Justice also orally observed that the state government should accept that not restricting the number of guests for the wedding was a mistake. The next hearing is scheduled for May 12.
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