On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the world’s largest ever quarantine measure, putting 1.3 billion Indians under lockdown a...
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the world’s largest ever quarantine measure, putting 1.3 billion Indians under lockdown as a way to halt the spread of the coronavirus disease.
That the pandemic requires drastic measures is obvious. Nearly a dozen countries are right now in lockdown mode, hoping to break the chain of transmission of the virus.
However, the legal method by which India implemented the lockdown has raised questions.
New Delhi takes charge
As per the Indian Constitution, both the subjects of law and order as well as health lie with state governments. Thus lockdowns can only be ordered by the states. In fact, this is how lockdowns since Sunday were working, with states invoking the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 to shut themselves down.
However, on Tuesday, the Union government used an innovative legal measure to take charge. The law it used to back a nationwide lockdown was a central legislation called the Disaster Management Act of 2005.
Using this, it declared a shutdown of commercial, industrial and transport activity. It also directed district magistrates, who otherwise take orders from the state government, to enforce the lockdown. The notification even ordered the closure of state government offices. The Union Home Ministry followed up by ordering the states to file daily...
