Misery brought about by the pandemic unimaginable: HC
In a landmark order, a division bench of Bombay high court (HC) on Friday said, “We need to remind ourselves that despite nearing 75 years of our independence, despite the guarantees that Part III of the Constitution envisions, and despite the goals engrafted in Part IV of the Constitution which the State ought to strive to achieve, a society which can provide equal opportunities to all is yet a distant reality.”
The division bench comprised chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Amjad Sayyad was hearing a clutch of petitions regarding the handling of the Covid-19 outbreak in the state.
Noting failures on part of the state in its handling of the pandemic and the challenges faced by the poor during lockdown, the bench said in its landmark order, “That misery of this degree could be brought about by the pandemic was indeed unimaginable. The pandemic and the resultant lockdown have destabilised the Indian economy, while wrecking the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ alike. It has shown how pitiable the conditions of migrant workers in India are. India, as things stand now, can hardly think of a fair and just society any time in the near future.”
The bench pointed out “factors which have been responsible for the spread of the pandemic in India” including lack of preparedness to tackle a problem of such magnitude, insufficient testing kits as well as protective gear and generally inadequate healthcare infrastructure. It also criticised the coordination between the Centre and state.
Further, the bench noted that it fell upon the judiciary to address citizens’ concerns when the legislative fails to do so.
“A judiciary, zealous and vigilant in safeguarding the rights of the people, is what the framers of the Constitution dreamt of and it needs no reiteration that by and large, the people of this nation have reposed faith and trust in the judicial institutions to rescue them in even the worst of situations,” said the bench, going on to add that “judicial propriety demands that we tread the path of caution and circumspection” while criticising the role of the executive in the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Instead of adoption of a critical approach of the unintended failures of the executive, the exercise of the extraordinary power available under Article 226 of the Constitution has to be tempered by judicial restraint,” it said.
The HC bench was hearing public interest litigations that raised complaints on a variety of issues including not testing asymptomatic frontline workers, the distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE), private hospitals flouting the state directive to reserve 80% beds for Covid-19 patients and the absence of a grievance redressal cell.
The court also noted that given the shortage of civic-run ambulances, the services of the taxi aggregator app Uber could be roped in by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, to transport non-covid patients to hospitals.