‘Don’t be in denial mode that there is no problem’

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday rapped the Uttar Pradesh Government and the Noida administrations, asking the district to not be in denial over how bad the COVID-19 situation is in the NCR city. The court was referring to the recent incident of an 8-month pregnant woman who died after eight hospitals refused to admit her.

The top court was hearing a petition that had sought free movement of residents between NCR cities, irrespective of state borders. The plea had said all three state governments were “unconstitutionally” imposing border restrictions.

At the earlier hearing in the matter, the court had noted that Noida’s quarantine guidelines contradicted national guidelines as the district was still institutionally quarantining asymptomatic COVID-19 patients. While both Haryana and Delhi had agreed to allowing free movement between NCR cities, UP had argued that they were not in favour of the move as Delhi’s case count might spill over to Noida.

The counsel for UP had stated different paramenters in Delhi and Noida as a justification when the court had questioned differences in Noida’s guidelines.

The top court on Wednesday also asked the district administration to ensure that it does not have separate quarantine guidelines than the national guidelines.

“Don’t be in a denial mode that there is no problem,” the bench said, while referring to news report of pregnant

lady losing her life recently for want of hospital bed in the district.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file a detailed affidavit in two weeks. The top court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to intervene and

look into the issue.