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Third Year Moot Problem 2024

The government of Novateria imposed a nationwide lockdown with little notice due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This led to migrant workers attempting to walk long distances home and some died from illness, lack of food or water or in police custody. An NGO filed a petition challenging the lockdown order on grounds that it violates fundamental rights and was imposed to suppress protests rather than for public health.

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Shirin Razdan
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23 views2 pages

Third Year Moot Problem 2024

The government of Novateria imposed a nationwide lockdown with little notice due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This led to migrant workers attempting to walk long distances home and some died from illness, lack of food or water or in police custody. An NGO filed a petition challenging the lockdown order on grounds that it violates fundamental rights and was imposed to suppress protests rather than for public health.

Uploaded by

Shirin Razdan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Amity University Dubai, 2024

YEAR 3 MOOT PROBLEM

Novateria is an independent country located in the Asian continent and it shares its boundaries
with a nation called People's Republic of Atrocities. In November 2019, a new virus known as
Covid-19 originated in the People's Republic of Atrocities. This virus infected humans and had a
high mortality rate. It spread across the world rapidly. In January 2020, the first case of Covid-19
was detected in Novateria and the cases started proliferating day by day.

The Government of Novateria was overwhelmed and found it challenging to combat the spread
of the virus and it started becoming a public health issue. To curb the spread of the virus and
stabilize the situation, the Govt. of Novateria. notified the spread of Covid-19 as a disaster and
by exercising its powers under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 passed an Order of a
nationwide Lockdown after providing a notice of 4 hours to the country‟s population.

The Order passed by the Government of Novateria. restricted the movement of individuals in the
country and confined them to their doorsteps. All the offices, industries, businesses and markets
etc. were asked to remain shut. The Order also stated that the public transport services will not be
operational and international travel will be banned. Strict instructions were given to the police
authorities to make everyone comply with this order. It also declared that anyone found acting in
violation of the order will be subject to punishment under the provisions of the Disaster
Management Act, 2005 and the Penal Code of the Novateria The Order only exempted the
government servants, the staff of the government hospitals and Police Personnel.

The entire population of Novateria was taken by surprise and it led to chaos and uncertainty.
Various individuals were stuck across the territory of Novateria. The migrant workers who had
come to the big cities and industrial areas from different states of Novateria were stuck too and
due to the Lockdown, their employers refused to pay them the wages. Under these
circumstances, these workers did not have the resources to survive and had no other option but to
travel back to their hometowns. Since public transport services were not available, various
groups of these migrant workers resorted to travel by foot to reach home, some even travelling
100s of Kms. While on their journey back, various migrant workers died because of illness, lack
of food and water. Some were arrested by the police for violating the Order. Those arrested have
not been
released so far and there have been reports that some of them died in police custody.

The Citizens of Novateria also faced difficulties because of the government‟s inability to provide
basic services such as food to the people stuck during this lockdown.

Before the Lockdown was announced by the Government Novateria, various groups were
leading movements and protesting against the policies of the government and the new
amendments to the constitution passed by the government. These groups have alleged that this
Lockdown was imposed to suppress their voice and curtail the movement. Moreover it was
stated by their spokesperson in an interview to a renowned news channel that in the regions of
mass protests specifically in the National Capital, the executive has invoked its powers under the
code of criminal procedure, section 144 to impose curfews and to attract stricter punishments for
violators in the disguise of lockdown only to curb the ongoing movement.

We File Writs, an NGO which is known to fight for the rights of the people and also represents
theninterest of the migrant workers, and the protestors have now moved the Supreme Court of
Novateria by filing a writ petition challenging the constitutional validity of the order and the
subsequent actions by the government which imposed the nationwide lockdown inter alia on the
following grounds:

- That the Govt. of Novateria does not have the power to impose a nationwide lockdown
under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the Order passed by the
Government of Novateria is unconstitutional.
- That the Order is in violation of the Fundamental Rights of the Citizens.
- That the imposition of Section 144 cannot be undertaken to curtail democratic
representation or protests.

In the Writ Petition, they have also requested the Supreme Court of Novateria to issue directions
to the government of Novateria to release the workers who have been in police custody and also
to direct payment of compensation to the families of those workers who died while travelling
back to their hometowns or died while in police custody.

The Hon'ble Supreme Court was pleased to entertain the matter and the same is listed for
hearing.

The laws and constitution of Novateria are in pari materia to the laws and
constitution of India.

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