The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Orissa High Court order mandating the state not to permit the entry of migrants unless they tested negative for the novel coronavirus.

The Centre had approached the Supreme Court pleading that such a direction had created an “unreasonable and impossible” pre-condition for governments and migrants.

A Supreme Court bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Bhushan Gavai issued notice to the petitioner in the high court, Narayan Chandra Jena, for his response to the Centre’s plea.

The Centre’s petition said: “…The impugned order apart from being unworkable, fails to notice the standard operating procedure already being followed by the central government and the state governments…The impugned order further ignores the nature of the present pandemic… and the delicate handling of the situation by the executive….

“…Impugned order clearly impinges upon the executive domain and creates an unreasonable and impossible to perform pre-condition….

“…The central government, in conjunction with state governments, is taking all possible precautions at the stage of boarding, during travel, after de-boarding in every state and the subsequent quarantine.”