Char Dham Yatra: Uttarakhand government moves SC, challenges high court’s stay order

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand government on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the state High Court’s order staying the Char Dham Yatra.

According to news agency ANI, the state government has filed a plea before the apex court. The hearing in connection with the Char Dham Yatra will take place in the High Court on Wednesday.

Uttarakhand Government approaches Supreme Court against the Uttarakhand High Court order staying the Char Dham Yatra. The State Government has filed a plea before the apex Court. A hearing in connection with the Yatra will take place in the High Court tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/0KM49Yr1Sa — ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2021

The development came just two days after Pushkar Singh Dhami took oath as the 11th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, replacing Tirath Singh Rawat, who resigned from the post on Saturday.

Earlier on June 30, the Uttarakhand government had moved the Supreme Court against the High Court's stay order on the Char Dham Yatra.

On June 28, the Uttarakhand High Court had stayed the state Cabinet's decision permitting Char Dham Yatra with a limited number of pilgrims and also ordered live streaming of Char Dham shrines.

The High Court had asked the government to file the affidavit again by July 7. In view of COVID-19 and poor health preparedness, the decision of the government has been put on hold by High Court, it said then.

The court took note of experts’ opinion that the “ill-decision” of holding the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar in April was one of the contributory factors for the steep rise of the COVID second wave.

“There is, thus, a strong prima facie case in favour of the people, for not permitting the Char Dham Yatra, even in a limited manner. For, the lives of the people may be exposed to the danger of the Delta Plus variant, and to the third wave of COVID-19. If the Char Dham Yatra were permitted, we would again be inviting a catastrophe,” the high court order said.

Earlier on June 25, the state Cabinet had decided to partially open the Char Dham Yatra for locals in limited numbers from July 1. Initially, it was decided that the yatra would be opened for residents of Chamoli, Uttarkashi, and Rudraprayag districts with a cap on the number of pilgrims to visit the temples daily.

The state government had said that it would be issuing guidelines for the pilgrimage for people from three districts. Government spokesperson Subodh Uniyal informed the three districts from where pilgrims were allowed were Chamoli, Uttarkashi, and Rudraprayag.

The Char Dham Yatra covers four pilgrimage sites in Uttarakhand - Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri, and Gangotri.