Decrees, orders or guidelines in effect and pertaining to reopening facilities.

• The Central Government of India as well as respective State Governments, in the last 2 months, has imposed several lock downs within the country, as a measure to combat the rapid spread of COVID-19. However, in order to ensure that the economic adverse effects are somewhat restricted, the Central Government, vide a notification dated May 30, 2020 (“Central Government Notification”) has announced a strategy to re-open facilities in a phased manner in areas outside containment zones (with the lock down being extended up to June 30, 2020 in the designated containment zones). While multiple State Governments have also passed similar orders with respect to phased re-opening of facilities, some States (e.g. Telangana, West Bengal and Mizoram) have however extended the lock down for an additional period of time.
• The Central Government Notification provides for certain guidelines and standard operation procedures that are to be mandatorily observed whilst resuming operations. Examples are: (a) wearing of face covers; (b) following social distancing measures; (c) working from home as far as possible; (d) staggered work hours at offices, industrial and commercial establishments; (e) provision of thermal scanning, hand wash and sanitizers at all entry and exit points in common areas; and (f) frequent sanitization of entire workplace. In light of the guidelines prescribed under the Central Government Notification, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare by means of a notification dated June 04, 2020 has also prescribed detailed standard operating procedures to contain the spread of COVID-19 (“SOPs”).

Optimal approach to keep track of the latest updates.

• The optimal approach to keep track of the latest updates and notifications with respect to COVID-19 is to keep a check on the Central Government’s and respective State Government’s websites, where such notifications are published. IndusLaw, as part of its own COVID-19 response process, has also been tracking the notification and orders, and our analysis of some of them can be found here: https://induslaw.com/publication