How HCS intervened in Covid management in India
During the second wave of Covid infections, there is a somewhat unlikely institution that has been active, even proactive, in the realm of Covid management — India’s various high courts.
Turn north first
On Thursday, the Uttarakhand high court (HC) came down on the central government after its representative failed to appear before the court to answer queries on oxygen allocation to the state.
A bench of chief justice RS Chauhan and justice Alok Verma asked the central government counsel whether any officer was present before it, as was requested by the court during an earlier hearing. Last week, the court had told the central government not to divert oxygen from the state to other states and said it would stand for Covid patients of the state.
The counsel, Rakesh Thapliyal, replied in the negative, saying the officer was busy. “They can’t be so busy as to not attend court,” the court said.
Or turn west
On Wednesday, the Bombay HC directed the BMC not to wait for the Central government’s permission to conduct door-to-door vaccination drive for the elderly and differently abled persons who cannot go out for inoculation.
Or go south
On May 5, the Karnataka HC directed the Centre to supply 1,200 MT oxygen to Karnataka. This came after the Centre had reduced the state’s oxygen allocation to about 900 metric tonnes and allowed diversion of oxygen from Belagavi to Maharashtra.
And then look around the country
The Madras HC is monitoring the Covid situation in the state and has been issuing orders on oxygen, bed and ventilator management. The Gujarat HC has rapped the state government for the high number of Covid cremations reported across the state and questioned the state’s death figures. And in some states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, HCS took over the Covid management, even suggested lockdown and appointed committee of experts to suggest measures to deal with rising Covid cases.
These are just some of the HC interventions across the country to manage Covid, with directions to the Centre and the state government to deal with the situation. The court’s interventions have come at the time when citizens are distressed and have felt let down by their elected representatives. But this approach has its critics too — particularly those who believe that the courts have overstepped their mandate, and they should let the executive branch of the State decide on policy issues, both in terms of its conceptualisation and execution. Veteran constitutional expert Subash C Kashyap, writing in Hindustan Times earlier this week, noted, “The constitutional way to handle the pandemic is to leave it to the separate organs of the State to perform the functions — and only the functions — they are meant to.” Others disagree and believe that courts provided relief when the government failed. “From providing hospital beds to oxygen supply to creating new Covid care facilities, the courts have issued directions on almost all aspects. I don’t think it was a case of judicial overreach,” said Prashant Bhushan, senior SC lawyer. Here is a set of HC interventions
Allahabad HC
On May 7, justices Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar asked the state government to ensure Covid-19 vaccination of all UP residents within three-four months and expedite the purchase of vaccines from the global market. On May 11, it asked the state to set up a mechanism to deal with Covid related complaints of people. And on May 17, the same bench observed that state was running “Ram Bharose” while speaking about a Covid patient going missing from Meerut district hospital, and later being cremated as an unidentified dead body.
Patna HC
The Patna HC instructed the state government to form a 13-member expert panel on Covid; update death registration figures; boost testing facilities, especially in rural areas; and increase Covid beds.
Himachal Pradesh HC
The court asked the HP government to increase the number of testing labs; consider sending mobile vans for Covid tests; increase the number of dedicated Covid hospitals; increase the number of Covid beds in all hospitals with regular oxygen supply; buy additional CT scan machines; provide real-time data on bed availability; and take action against private hospitals under Disaster Management Act for refusing to do tests or provide Covid health care.
Punjab and Haryana HC
The court directed the Punjab and Haryana governments on April 23 to create a nodal agency in every district, which would monitor the availability of beds situation, supply of medicines, oxygen and other related issues. Nodal agencies were created by both the governments, as per their reports in HC on May 4.
(With bureaus)