Bombay HC asks Maha govt to think of 15-day lockdown
Hospitals should not become Jatugrihas, says HC on fire incidents
The Bombay high court on Thursday asked the Maharashtra government to consider imposing complete lockdown in the state for 15 days.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni was of the opinion that a complete lockdown like last year was necessary in order to successfully contain the spread of Covid situation in the State.
The bench also asked Advocate General (AG) Ashutosh Kumbhakoni if the state believed its current restrictions on the movement of citizens were working. The judges also asked him if people with only urgent business were on roads.
The bench clarified that it was not issuing any mandate, however they were of the opinion that the government should consider a lockdown like last year.
The HC also directed the Maharashtra government to ensure municipal authorities conducted an immediate fire audit of all hospitals, nursing homes and Covid care centres across the state.
Referring to Wednesday’s fire in a private hospital in Thane district where four people died, the bench said, “We do not want any more fires in hospitals.”
The bench said a patient
does not have time to check if a hospital is firecompliant or not. “We do not want hospitals turning into Jatugrihas,” the HC said, referring to the highly combustible house of lac that Duryodhana had built for the Pandavas in the “Mahabharata”.
The HC also said it was not trying to pin the blame for the raging pandemic on the state government or municipal corporation, but it was the society’s
“collective failure” and that citizens must also act responsibly.
“You want to have everything. You want Kumbh, you want marriages...are you waiting for the third wave?” it asked.
“At least for 15 days if people stay strictly indoors, like last year, we may expect better results. Please advise your government,” the high court told this to the AG.
The HC was hearing a PIL, alleging improper management of Covid treatment in Maharashtra and seeking directions pertaining to shortage of Remdesivir, the key antiviral drug, and oxygen supply.
Advocate General Kumbhakoni on behalf of the state and the senior counsel Anil Sakhre on behalf of BMC told the HC that there was adequate stock of Remdesivir and oxygen for hospitals in Mumbai and a safety audit of medical facilities across the state would be conducted.