Panel to probe treatment given to HC judge who succumbed to Covid

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court on Tuesday directed the state government to constitute within three days a committee to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into the treatment administered to late Justice VK Srivastava, a sitting judge of the high court, who succumbed the Covid-19 infection.

The court said the report should be submitted to it within two weeks. The committee will have a secretarylevel officer as its convener with a senior pulmonologist from Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow and a senior advocate to be nominated by the president/ elders committee of the Awadh Bar Association as its members.

During the course of the hearing, records related to his treatment were placed before the court and it passed the order after going through them.

Earlier on May 4, 2021, the bench had taken notice of the death of the sitting judge of the high court due to Covid-19. Justice VK Srivastava was admitted in the morning of April 23, 2021 to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Lucknow, but was allegedly not taken care of till he was shifted to SGPGIMS, Lucknow, where he was in ICU for five days and ultimately succumbed to the Covid- 19 infection.

On May 4, the court had directed the state government to file an affidavit bringing on record the treatment given to Justice Srivastava at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and also to explain why he was not taken immediately to SGPGIMS, Lucknow, in the morning on April 23, 2021.