New Delhi

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High Court's order to impose lockdowns in its five cities, on the ground that such kinds of decisions are not in the domain of the High Court.

The bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde, decided to hear the matter today at the end of the board. "Complete lockdown was imposed for a week in many cities in Uttar Pradesh. Considering the urgency, in the matter, please consider it for hearing today," Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said.

Earlier last week, the Allahabad High Court had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to consider imposing a complete lockdown in the most affected districts along with ramping up tracking, testing and treatment facilities.

The Uttar Pradesh government has already announced restrictions on gatherings of five or more people in religious places for effective control of the Covid-19 pandemic during Navratri and Ramzan. Uttar Pradesh has recorded 18,021 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the state health department informed on Tuesday.

On Monday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's office had said, "There is no need to impose a complete lockdown. Weekend lockdowns will continue to curb the spread of COVID-19."

As per the union health ministry, there are currently 2,08,523 active cases in Uttar Pradesh. So far, 6,61,311 recoveries and 9,997 deaths have been reported in the state.