The division bench of Chauhan and justice Alok Kumar Verma criticised the way the state had handled the Kumbh Mela. "If you look at national data, It's very apparent. It's immediately after the Kumbh Mela that there was a sudden spike in all states. Look at what devastation Maharashtra had to face, what devastation Rajasthan had to face, what devastation UP and Delhi had to face. We became the talk of the entire world, Chauhan said, adding "We shouldn't create another such set of embarrassment. The judges cited report on the health department inquiry into one lakh fake Covid tests during Kumbh and said the state must get to the bottom of the scam. On Wednesday state tourism secretary Dilip Jawalkar said the state government had decided to not open the shrines till June 22. "Even if the Yatra starts, it will be done in a phased manner, "he said. The HC said it was unhappy with the report filed by additional secretary (tourism) Ashish Chauhan. It has called for a fresh report informing it about the state government's decision on Char Dham. Jawalkar has to file the report by June 21 and the next hearing is on June 23. It found that China was increasingly using aggresive means, including bilateral economic leverage, to coerce states in multilateral organisations to back their position to back their position or their candidates and then it uses the organisations to shift policies away from the cooperation the organisations were created to promote. The report recommends that the UK work with a coalition of like-minded states within these bodies to publicly vote against attempts by such states to secure leadership positions. The report criticised the disengagement of the Trump administration, saying it had allowed China to consolidate its grip over several multilateral organisations.
