The Madras High Court on Monday dismissed a public interest litigation petition which challenged the State government’s recent nod for 100% occupancy in cinema halls despite the threat of COVID-19 not having subsided completely. The court, however, requested the government to review the situation depending upon the number of COVID-19 positive cases detected in individual cities, towns and other localities.
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu said that the courts should be slow in entering into administrative domain without there being any concrete material to disprove the basis on which the government had taken the decision. The judges also said that there would always be a presumption in favour of the State that when it takes certain decisions, they would have been taken only after due diligence.
“There is no doubt that the pandemic has not gone away. Yet, the recent number of COVID-19 positive cases, even during the festive season, does not raise any alarm of a third surge,” the judges said with a rider that there could still not be any room for complacency.
Though it was argued vehemently that the government had not come out with a specific Standard Operating Procedure for the cinema halls, the judges pointed out that the only protocol advised to be followed in all public places was wearing of masks and maintaining physical distance. Cinema halls do not appear to have been exempted from these two norms while allowing them to operate with 100% occupancy, the Division Bench said. R. Sivamurugan Athithan, a businessman from Thoothukudi, had filed the PIL petition fearing that the COVID-19 postive cases might go up if the theatres were allowed to function to capacity.
