DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand government’s lawyers are drafting an appeal against the Nainital high court (HC) ordering a stay on conducting the Char Dham Yatra. The appeal will be filed in a couple of days in the Supreme Court, state government spokesperson Subodh Uniyal told TOI on Wednesday.
The government had decided to knock the doors of the Supreme Court on Monday after the HC took strong exception to the state’s decision to start the annual pilgrimage from July 1 for residents of three districts — where the four Char Dham shrines are situated — and for the entire state from July 11. After reviewing the state’s arrangements for conducting the pilgrimage, the court said that holding the yatra at this stage — when the third wave of the pandemic has been predicted — would ‘invite a catastrophe again.’
The division bench of Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma had termed the government’s decision “not only arbitrary and unreasonable but also violating Article 14 (equality before law), Article 21 (protection of life) and several other provisions of the Constitution.”
Uniyal meanwhile said that the decision to conduct the yatra had been made after detailed discussions on how all all aspects of the pilgrimage will be managed. “Fifteen days prior to the start of the yatra, the Char Dham Devsthanam Board and the district authorities had been directed to ensure all required arrangements, medical facilities and safety measures were put in place. RT- PCR negative report was made mandatory for entering the temples and our medical teams were to be stationed at different locations.”
He added that “a collective limit of 750 pilgrims per day had been set for the yatra which is very reasonable.” “Last year, the yatra was started in July for everyone and the daily average pilgrim turnout was 40 at Yamunotri, 70 at Gangotri, 180 at Kedarnath and 400 at Badrinath. This was when the yatra was open for the entire country. Since we were opening the pilgrimage for only three districts, therefore a limit of 750 was set. We will be putting up all these facts before the Supreme Court” Uniyal said.
