‘NATIONAL EMERGENCY’
Supreme Court takes suo motu cognisance of Covid crisis, asks Centre to present national plan for oxygen, medicines, vaccines, lockdowns
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday called the crisis triggered by the second Covid-19 wave a “national emergency” as it initiated a public interest litigation on its own, and asked the Centre to present before it on Friday a national plan to combat the crisis that has now made India the worst hot spot of the entire global pandemic.
“The situation in various parts of the country is grim. There seems to be a sudden surge in the number of Covid patients and mortality,” said the bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde, while taking a suo motu cognisance of the surge in infections, which have led to a shortage of hospital beds and crucial supplies such as medical oxygen and medicines.
The order said its focus areas at this time were the supply of medical oxygen, essential medicines, the method and manner of vaccination, and the declaration of lockdowns to check the spread of the disease.
Issuing the notices to the Union and state governments, it asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to remain present in the court with the national plan on availability and distribution of essential supplies and services. The bench, which also includes justices L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat, appointed senior advocate Harish Salve as amicus curiae to assist the court.
A day after India saw the world’s biggest one-day jump in Covid-19 cases ever, the country again broke all records as 332,394 new infections and 2,255 deaths were reported on Thursday, both new single-day records.
The ferocious second wave of infections has overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums across the country and has led to frantic cries for help on social media as patients throughout the country struggled to arrange for beds, key medical supplies such as oxygen and medicines.
Pointing out that at least six high courts were hearing issues related to the preparedness of the states and the Centre to deal with the crisis, the bench also issued notices to the petitioners before the high courts, asking why uniform orders should not be passed by the Supreme Court.
“The high courts have passed certain orders which may have the effect of accelerating and prioritising the services to a certain set of people and slowing down the availability of these resources to certain other groups whether the groups are local, regional or otherwise,” recorded the court in its order, while telling Mehta that these orders were also creating confusion and diversion of resources because of different priorities.
“Prima facie, we are inclined to take the view that the distribution of these essential services and supplies must be done in an even-handed manner according to the advice of the health authorities which undoubtedly take into account relevant factors like severity, susceptibility, the number of people affected and the local availability of resources,” the court recorded in its four-page order.
On the issue of lockdowns, the CJI, whose bench had on Tuesday stayed an order of the Allahabad high court for virtually locking down five worst-hit districts of Uttar Pradesh, observed that this authority should be with the state government. “We want to keep the power to declare lockdown with states. It cannot be a judicial decision,” he remarked.
In its order, the apex court also asked the Union government to apprise it of existence or requirement of a coordinating body that could consider allocation of the resources in a consultative manner with the involvement of concerned states and Union territories in addition to providing logistical support for transportation and distribution of essential medicines, oxygen and other resources.
The bench further asked the Centre to consider the declaration of essential medicines and medical equipment required for treatment of Covid-19 as “essential commodities” under the law.
When Mehta asked if the Centre was still required to make submissions before the high courts after the top court’s cognisance, justice Bhat said that the central government should go ahead and adduce its national plan before high courts since the idea was not to supersede high court orders at this moment.