More on Covid-19

NEW DELHI: The home secretary on Thursday requested the states to widely circulate information on penal provisions laid down under the Disaster Management Act as well as IPC for violation of lockdown guidelines and asked the law enforcement agencies to take suitable action under these provisions.The latest communication from Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla to the chief secretaries comes a day after he asked the states/UTs to implement the lockdown measures issued by MHA in exercise of powers under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, “in letter and spirit, without allowing any exception”.Reminding the states of Supreme Court’s recent observation that it “trusts and expects that all state governments, public authorities and citizens of this country will faithfully comply with directives, advisories and orders issued by the Union of India ... in the interest of public safety”, Bhalla cited Sections 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act as well as Section 188 of IPC that provide for punitive action — imprisonment or/and fine — against any person violating the containment measures for COVID-19 pandemic.“It is requested that for the attention of the public authorities and citizens, the penal provisions under the DM Act and IPC should be widely circulated and for violation of lockdown measures, action under relevant provisions of DM Act and IPC shall be taken by the law enforcement authorities,” the Home Secretary noted.Section 51 of DM Act provides for maximum one-year prison term (two years if it endangers life) or fine for anyone who obstructs government servant; Section 54 provides for up to one year in jail for false warning; Section 52 and 53 entails up to two years in jail for false claims and misappropriation of funds. Punitive action is also laid down under DM Act for offences by government departments and companies and for officers failing in their duty. Section 188 of IPC provides for up to six-month prison term of fine, or both, which is further extendable to two years if it’s endangers human life, for anyone disobeying an order duly promulgated by a public servant.