- On 17.05.2020 the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India ("MHA" or "GOI") extended the national lockdown till May 31, 2020 ("MHA 17 May Order") and also issued new guidelines on measures to be taken for containment of Covid-19.1 The said MHA 17 May Order stipulated that: (a) the delineation of "red", "orange" and "green" zones will be undertaken by the respective States and UTs taking into consideration the parameters shared by The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India ("MHFW")2 and (b) within the Red and Orange Zones, the Containment and Buffer zones will be demarcated by the district authorities after taking into consideration MHFW guidelines3 . However no time period has been given within which period such zonal classification will be undertaken by the States.
- On 17.05.2020 MHFW issued guidelines regarding categorizing "red", "orange" and "green" zones and stated: (i) States may categorise districts/ municipal corporations as "red"/"orange"/"green" zones, (ii) States may also choose to categorize a sub-division/ward or any other appropriate administrative unit as "red"/"orange"/"green" after detailed analysis, (iii) there has to be identification of containment zones and buffer zones inside red/orange zones and (iii) states have to take into consideration parameters provided by MHFW.
- However, since the earlier zonal classification made by MHFW had not been set aside by MHFW; since that had been issued under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the MHFW zonal classification will continue till such time as either the requirement for a zonal classification is itself removed or the relevant State Government notifies the revised classification pursuant to the delegation of power undertaken on May 17, 2020.
- It will be critical for the stakeholders in the CGD sector to track the classification of the individual districts that comprise each authorised area and changes to the classifications that occur.
- Pursuant to the MHA 17 May Order, Our Firm has restructured the CGD COVID-19 Tracker State wise. However, as of May 29, 2020 not all states have undertaken the exercise of notifying the "red"/"orange"/"green" zones.
APPROACH OF STATES (HAVING CGD G.A.) PURSUANT TO MHA 17 MAY ORDER, AS OF 29.05.2020
In light of the delegation provided by the MHA 17 May Order, not all states had, as of 29.05.2020 declared the "red", "orange" and "green" zones and not all States are following the prescribed guidelines to declare districts or municipal corporation level zones and then identify containment and buffer zones within the red and orange zones. Only six (6) states that have CGD authorised areas have classified districts into "red", "orange" or "green" zones and a number of the states have officially taken the stand not to notify district level classification but only identify containment zones and buffer zones. Thus. effectively the district level demarcation has not been effectively undertaken and the vast majority of the states have adopted containment and buffer zone approach, which creates greater uncertainty for business and operations having requirements of inter-district or inter-sate movement as at any time any area within the district could be imposed with restrictions without any notice. The uncertainty causes disruptions to project activities and supply chains that require inter-state or inter-district movements. There have been cases of cross district movement being curtailed to essential services without any notice.
The following table provides an overview of the approaches being taken by various States who have declared zones pursuant to the MHA 17 May Order (as of 29.05.2020):
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- The limitations on the activities that were applicable during the National Lockdown have been eased in phases commencing from April 20, 2020, and under the notification of May, 17 2020 all activities are permitted other than those prohibited and subject to the restrictions imposed in containment and buffer zones by the relevant district administrations. Thus, the impact of the national lockdown, although being sought to be eased has not resulted in return to normalcy and the economic activities permitted are subject to shutdown in the event the relevant area reports COVID-19 infections.
- Earlier it was for the State Governments to operationalise the permitted activities under the MHA notifications within the State but now since all activities are permitted other than those specifically prohibited (and which cannot be changed or allowed by the State), the State notifications are now important for determining the extent of work limited within the various districts. Thus, the notifications of each State Government and each District Administration identifying containment zones and buffer zones will provide the final applicable framework.
Footnotes
1 Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India Order no. 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) and New Guidelines dated 17.05.2020 accessed at Ministry of Home Affairs Website https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/MHAOrderextension_1752020_0.pdf
2 See Para 5(i) of Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India Order no. 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) and New Guidelines dated 17.05.2020
3 See Para 5(ii) of Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India Order no. 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) and New Guidelines dated 17.05.2020
4 COVID Instant Order No. 50/COVID-19/2020 dated 18.05.2020 of Health Medical & Family Welfare Department, Govt. of AP.
5 See https://covidindia.org/andhra-pradesh/
7 The Bihar Government's order dated 18.05.2020 is available at https://twitter.com/PIB_Patna/status/1262375432525090825. The order has not been uploaded on the Government website yet.
8 The Office of Adviser to the Administrator, UT-Cum-Chairperson, State Executive Committee of State Disaster Management Authority, UT, Chandigarh, order dated 18.05.2020 available at http://chdcovid19.in/uploads/1589808994-home20-5087-1805.pdf.
10 See http://dnh.nic.in/Docs/COVID19/2028.pdf
11 The Gujarat COVID19 Dashboard can be accessed at https://gujcovid19.gujarat.gov.in/
12 Government of Haryana, Memo No. 3PM(COVID)/2020/6142-6334 dated 20.05.2020 available at http://csharyana.gov.in/WriteReadData/Covid%2019-Health/COVID-19/e_11024.pdf
13 The Karnataka COVID19 Dashboard can be accessed at https://covid19.karnataka.gov.in/covid-dashboard/dashboard.html
14 See Press Release of 18.05.2020 at https://www.keralacm.gov.in/category/media-updates/press-release/ . A list of the containment zones in Kerala is available at https://dashboard.kerala.gov.in/hotspots.php
15 Home Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Order No. 164/2020/C-2 dated 18.05.2020 accessed at http://home.mp.gov.in/sites/default/files/Covid-19_Lockdown%20extention%20related%20Order-Guidelines_18.05.2020.pdf
17 Department of Revenue and Forest, Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation, Mantralaya , Government of Maharashtra Order No. DMU/2020/CR.92/DisM-1, dated 19.05.2020 is available at https://www.maharashtra.gov.in/Site/Upload/Government Resolutions/Marathi/202005191028540119.pdf. Also at https://cdn.s3waas.gov.in/s3013d407166ec4fa56eb1e1f8cbe183b9/uploads/2020/05/2020052217.pdf
18 The COVID Dashboard of the Government of Odisha can be accessed at https://statedashboard.odisha.gov.in/.
19 https://dgrpg.punjab.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/DPR-All-Press-Notes-dt.-18.05.2020.pdf
21 https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1264568365193936896
22 Chief Secertary, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Order No. 1132/5-2020 dated 20.05.2020 accessed at http://www.dgmhup.gov.in/DocumentsCovid19/1132-RED_ORENGE_GREEN_ZONE.pdf
23 https://wb.gov.in/containment-zones-in-west-bengal.aspx
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