SC stays TS HC order on virus test on all dead bodies

● THE HIGH COURT had also sought data on tests conducted on returning guest workers and the upgrading of Covid-hit areas to green zones.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Telangana High court order directing mandatory Covid testing on all dead bodies before they are moved out from the government hospitals for last rites.

Issuing a notice on a plea by Telangana government against May 26, 2020, High Court order, a bench comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M.R. Shah described the High Court order as “premature”.

Issuing a notice, the top court today stayed the High court order which said, “Therefore, this Court directs that dead bodies being released by the hospital, by way of abundant caution, will have to be tested for the presence of Coronavirus.”

The High Court had ordered mandatory Covid tests on all the dead bodies pointing to the government attempts to show fewer Covid-19 cases. The High Court had also sought data on tests conducted on returning guest workers and the upgrading of Covid-hit areas to green zones.

The High Court had said that the State government could not be permitted to hide behind the fig leaf of financial constraints as human life was the most important for good governance.

It had further observed that the state does not have the discretionary power to form its own opinion on conducting tests by putting the health of the people at stake. The High Court order had come on five PILs filed by retired Osmania University professor P.L. Vishveshwar Rao and Dr Cheruku Sudhakar, Varun Sankineni, Dr K.P. Rajender, retired district medical and health officer, Gadwal, and advocate Naresh Reddy Chinnola from Nirmal, all had contended that the government was not conducting adequate tests for Covid-19.