Ggm man moves Delhi HC: ‘Saral portal not user-friendly’
RANDOM SAMPLING’ WILL BE DONE ACROSS STATE; FOCUS WILL BE ON HIGH-RISK AREAS AND INDIVIDUALS
LAWYER SAY HE COULD NOT APPLY FOR A PASS TO ENTER DELHI DESPITE WASTING ONE AND A HALF HOURS ON THE WEB PORTAL
CHANDIGARH: Raising doubts on the efficiency of Saral Haryana web portal, used for issuing electronic passes for inter-state movement between Delhi and Haryana, a Gurgaon resident on Tuesday filed an intervention application in the Delhi high court seeking directions to Haryana government to allow the inter-state movement of advocates on identity cards issued by bar associations.
The matter will be heard on Wednesday by a Delhi HC division bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad.
Following an undertaking given by the Haryana government on May 14 that e-passes for inter-state movement of all persons engaged in providing essential services, including medical professionals, will be issued within 30 minutes of the receipt of the application, the Delhi high court had disposed of a public interest litigation (PIL).
Each e-pass will be valid for the entire duration of the lockdown and can be used for multiple visits, the state government told the HC. The PIL had sought court directions to stop the Haryana government from restricting the inter-state movement of medical professionals.
The applicant, Govind Swaroop Chaturvedi, a lawyer who practices in Delhi said in his intervening application that he was residing in Gurugram and has his chamber at Patiala House in New Delhi.
Chaturvedi said in his application that since he was being stopped from entering Delhi without a movement pass, he tried to apply for e-pass on May 18 at www.saralharyana.gov.in. However, he could not succeed even after wasting more than one and a half hours.
“The website is not userfriendly. While uploading the identity card in pdf format from a laptop, the Saral Haryana website asks for uploading image files only. However, when the same was tried from a mobile phone, the website said that file size should be less than 500 KB,’’ the application reads.
It is submitted that when the applicant asked his colleagues in Gurugram, it came to the fore that they also could not apply.
In their case, the website itself did not open, the application said.
“Directions be given to the Haryana government to allow the vehicles of advocates in the national capital region (NCR) with stickers of bar associations of Delhi to enter the UT. This should be done instead of applying for an e-pass, which a cumbersome and difficult process requiring technical help. Additionally, valid identity cards of the advocates issued by bar associations could also be checked to allow entry,’’ the application said.