GoI: Supply of Non-Essential Commodities by E-commerce prohibited during Lock Down

On April 19, 2020, the Government of India ordered that supply of non-essential commodities will remain prohibited during lock down. The order comes when E-Commerce industry geared up to deliver products such as refrigerators and mobile phones to areas that do not fall under COVID-19 hotspots.

Highlights

The GoI had earlier allowed E-commerce to operate from April 20. Following this, several state governments had issued orders to begin operations of E-commerce. However, this will affect the quarantine operations in hotspots. Therefore, the GoI has exercised the powers of Section 10 (2) of the Disaster Management Act.

Using these powers, the GoI has now prohibited the supply of non-essential commodities during lock down.

Section 10 of Disaster Management Act

The section provides powers to the national executive committee to discharge plans of national authority. The Committee shall be constituted by the Central Government to combat the disaster. Such a committee had earlier been constituted to act and monitor COVID-19 disaster. It also has powers to lay down guidelines to prepare disaster management plans. Under this power, the centre has banned the sale of non-essential goods in the country by the E-Commerce groups.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2020