The High Court of Karnataka on Friday directed the State government to secure proper data from the Union government and other authorities in New Delhi on persons from the State who had participated in the Tablighi Jamaat meet, held at Nizamuddin at the national capital, and subject them to COVID-19 tests.
A special Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice B.V. Nagarathna issued the direction while hearing, through videoconferencing, two PIL petitions filed by Girish Bharadwaj and Geeta Mishra, both residents of Bengaluru.
The Bench noted that no clear data was available on persons who attended the religious meet and were now present in Karnataka, as the government has only informed the court that 50 foreign nationals, who attended the meet, were traced in the State.
Observing that it was the duty of the State to get proper data on the matter, the Bench directed the government to locate such persons and quarantine them, besides taking further measures as per the COVID-19 advisories.
In one of the petitions, it was pointed that the Delhi government appeared to be not providing any information on the participants and the Karnataka government was also not aware of exact number of participants, as State agencies have been issuing public notices asking those attended the meet to approach the health authorities.
