Kerala Karnataka Border Dispute: Supreme Court Asks Union Health Secretary To Talk To States About Opening State Border

In a border dispute, that has been making headlines in the times of Corona, the Supreme Court today directed the Union Health Secretary to meet Chief Secretaries of both states and decide how the movement of people from Kerala to Karnataka could be facilitated for medical treatments.

Karnataka had moved the apex court yesterday 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. A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta that heard the case today has scheduled the next hearing for 7 April.

Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Kerala High Court Advocates Association seeking directions for opening the inter-state roads, the Kerala High Court had on Wednesday said that the action of blocking access to medical facilities amounted to an infringement of right to life, and freedom of movement.

Member of Parliament from Kasaragod, Rajmohan Unnithan, had also filed a petition in the Supreme Court earlier this week asking the apex court to direct Karnataka to open its borders.

Interestingly while the Congress MP from Kasaragod has sought borders to be opened, the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Dakshina Kannada Mithun Rai has filed a special leave petition yesterday against the Kerala High Court order.

Watch: A Ruthless Lockdown Leaves Kerala’s Kasaragod Vulnerable