The Bench of Justice SB Shukre and Justice AG Gharote while passing the order recorded that- “We would have appreciated that the reply filed by the Collector, reflected upon the realisation of the mistake committed by him … This gives an indication that there is no realisation of mistake on the part of the Collector, rather the Collector has fondness for functioning with the same attitude as he has displayed earlier. This may not stand in good stead for him in future and therefore, we would only like to say that for his own good, he exercises more care and caution in future.”
The order of Collector to gather 200 people during COVID-19 for event hosted by the Serva Sewa Sanghwas disapproved by the Bombay HC. In the matter the court gave another chance to the collector in which he chose to allow 50 people to congregate instead of 200. The court said that they expected a reply from collector on his earlier mistake. However the Nagpur bench observed no change in his attitude in the matter and said that- “We would only like to say that for his own good, he exercises more care and caution in future.” After he was granted liberty to revise the earlier order he obtained fresh application from trust to organize a smaller gathering. The court didn’t intervene further but gave a suggestion to collector to be careful the next time.
The court noticed that the Collector had violated the restrictions placed by the State government which prohibited large public gatherings till November 30, 2020. The court has also directed the collector to ensure only 50 people gather and not more and to avoid any last-minute conflict court advised him to get list of attendees beforehand.
