The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the state government to facilitate home delivery of essential commodities during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The single-judge bench of Justice M S Sonak on Friday, 28 March, also observed that people are not interested in defying the curfew and queuing up in front of grocery stores and pharmacies.
“The state government and its agencies must be proactive in encouraging and facilitating home delivery of essentials, so that there is no need to visit grocery shops during the period of lockdown,”High Court Order
It is not as if people are interested in defying the curfew and queuing up in front of the shops and pharmacies, it stated.
“If a robust system for home deliveries of essentials is in place, the implementation of the lockdown and the policy of social distancing will be achieved,”Justice MS Sonak
The high court made these observation while disposing of the petitions filed by lawyers Abhjiit Gosavi and Rohit Bras de Sa over the state government's "failure" to provide essential commodities to the people during the lockdown. Even the directives of the National Disaster Management Authority and Central government encourage home deliveries, the bench ruled.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)