Bengaluru: Karnataka and Kerala have decided to end the border dispute during the coronavirus pandemic.

Karnataka had shut its doors for non-Covid patients from Kerala to get into Mangaluru. To be precise, Talapadi was the place where the people were halted and not let into Karnataka.

When the matter had reached the Supreme Court, the top court had asked if the two sides could sort the issue out.

Today, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde-led bench about a meeting held among the Union home secretary and the chief secretaries of both states to mutually resolve the matter, as reported by a popular website.

It also added that the solicitor general said an agreement had been reached on the parameters and protocol to let medical patients into Karnataka.

It might be recalled that Karnataka had moved the top court challenging the Kerala High Court order that asked the Union government to intervene and ensure that the border is open for movement of people from Kerala’s Kasaragod district into Dakshina Kannada.

The website had added that a bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta that heard the case and had scheduled the next hearing for 7 April.

The Kerala high court said the action of blocking access to medical facilities amounted to an infringement of right to life, and freedom of movement.

Meanwhile, in another development, the Centre is mulling option to extend the lockdown as asked by several states and health experts. The lockdown is supposed to end on April 14.

The Centre is also thinking of allowing the states to take a call on the issue. If states do want to continue, the Centre has its own set of guidelines. If there are states which do not want it, there is another set of guidelines for the same.

