Why must a person sitting alone in a car wear a mask, a Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh asked the Delhi government counsel, senior advocate Rahul Mehra.
“It is a Delhi government order, why don’t you withdraw it? It is absurd actually,” the two-judge Bench remarked.
The High Court’s observation came after the Delhi government’s counsel shared an incident of a man being challaned for not wearing a mask while sitting in his car along with his mother, and sipping coffee with the windows of his car rolled up.
“Why is this order prevailing? Take instructions,” the Bench told the Delhi government counsel.
Mr. Mehra said that the High Court’s April 7, 2021, order, which had refused to interfere with the Delhi government’s decision to impose challans for not wearing a mask while driving a private car alone, was “very unfortunate”.
“Somebody sitting in the car with rolled-up windows and being challaned for 2,000,” Mr. Mehra said.
The High Court, in its April 2021 order, had ruled that wearing of a mask or a face cover in a vehicle, which may be occupied by either a single person or multiple persons, was compulsory in the view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A mask is a ‘Suraksha kavach’ for preventing the spread of the corona virus,” Justice Prathiba M. Singh had said while dismissing four different pleas challenging the challan issued to persons for not wearing of face masks while travelling alone in a private car.
“A vehicle which is moving across the city, even if occupied at a given point in time by one person, would be a public place owing to the immediate risk of exposure to other persons under varying circumstances,” the High Court had said.
